"Super-Diversity“in the Mexican Countryside?

Experiences from bilingual and intercultural education strategies

Gunther Dietz Universidad Veracruzana

guntherdietz@gmail.com

AERA / WERA Conference, Denver, CO, May, 2010

Structure of paper:

1. Introduction: (Post) Colonial Categories?

2. The Legacy of Indigenism

3. Lessons from Indigenous Bilingual Education

4. Interculturalizing the Educational System

5. The Diversity of Diversities in rural Mexico

6. An Ethnographic Example from an “Intercultural University”

(Post) Colonial Categories?

• persistance of colonial classifications of difference

• = system of “castas”

• shapes perception of cultural diversity since then

The Legacy of Indigenism

• Development of a particular set of policies for indigenous peoples

• Defined and implemented by non-indigenous actors

• First by colonial administration, later by nation-state institutions

• Oscilates in its aims over time

Phases of Indigenismo Policies

1) Colonial period:* segregation* corporatism* paternalism* parroquialism

2) Nineteenth century:* extermination* racial assimilation* individualization* liberalization

Phases of Indigenismo Policies

3) after Mexican Revolution:* mestizaje* educational nationalism* cultural assimilation* agrarian reform (“statist” vs. “comunalist”)* developmentalism* bilingual teachers as indigenous brokers

Phases of Indigenismo Policies

4) neoliberalism:* privatization / liberalization of land tenure* structural adjustment => “assistentialism”* political dissidence (democratic pluralization)* institutional dissidence (bilingual teachers & community leaders)* new indigenous movements* Zapatista uprising in Chiapas* autonomy claims (local / regional)

Interculturalizingthe Educational System

• “Bilingual bicultural indigenous education”, as part of indigenismo policies

• De facto often instrumental use of indigenous language for transitory bilingualism

• Since nineties: “intercultural bilingual education”

Contemporary (Neo-/Post-)Indigenism?

• privatization / liberalization of land tenure• structural adjustment => “assistentialism”• political dissidence

(democratic pluralization)• institutional dissidence

(bilingual teachers & community leaders)• new indigenous movements• Zapatista uprising in Chiapas• autonomy claims (local / regional)

Tendencies in the Mexican Educational System

• Privatization or outsourcing of sub-systems• Introduction of market management logics• Public-private & GO/NGO partnerships• De-centralization of campus locations• Inter- / transdisciplinarity of curricula• “Employability” & emphasis on key

competences• Diversification of staff and students• Multiculturalization of study programmes

Tendencies in the Relation betweenthe State / Indigenous Peoples

• “Post-indigenism”• “Judicialization”, legal recognition of

indigenous rights / of access to rights• Visibilization of cultural difference• Multiculturalization through empowerment• Interculturalization of curricula• Debate on “diversity management”

The Diversity of Diversitiesin rural Mexico

• Beyond indigenous/mestizo identity divide• Emergence of new identities, with regard

to:religious pluralisationgender and sexual orientationgeneration, youth culturesmigration, “rurban” experiences

The Diversity of Diversities• Three notions/uses of diversity:

1. Diversity as a problem=> assimilation / integration / segregation

2. Diversity as a right => affirmative action, anti-discrimination

3. Diversity as a resource => intercultural, translational competences

An Ethnographic Example from an “Intercultural University”

• Universidad Veracruzana Intercultural (UVI)• since 2005, as part of Universidad

Veracruzana• decentralized, regionalized structure• intercultural and interlingual curriculum• B.A. and M.A. programme• close relation between teaching / research /

community service provision

The emergence of a new kind of university

• SEP-CGEIyB (2001): post-zapatista governmental programme

• Federal government / Universidad Veracruzana agreement (2004)

• UV-IIE: Seminar on

Multicultural Education in Veracruz

Academic & Educational Institutions

Indigenous Movements & Communities

Rural Development & Human Rights NGOs

Actors involved in the UVI creation

Universidad Veracruzana InterculturalHuasteca Regional Centre

• Languages:– Nahua– Español– Otomí– Tepehua– Huasteco

Universidad Veracruzana InterculturalTotonacapan Regional Centre

• Languages:– Español– Totonaco

Universidad Veracruzana InterculturalGrandes Montañas Regional Centre

• Languages:– Nahua– Español

Universidad Veracruzana InterculturalSelvas Regional Centre

• Languages:– Nahua– Español– Zoque Popoluca– Zapoteco– Mixe– Chinanteco

The B.A. study programmes at UVl

1st & 2nd student generation:

B.A. in Sustainable Regional Development

B.A. in Intercultural Management & Communication

+ cross-cutting Programme in “Languages and Cultures”

“Orientations” Related social needs & claims

Languages Lack of dynamics & tools to use and mainstream indigenous languages

CommunicationScarce visualization & contextualization of cultural resources and heritage

SustainabilityLack of community-rooted and sustainable production and environmental reconstruction projects

RightsAsymmetries in justice system and lack of “bridges” between plural legal systems

HealthLack of access to health care and of recognition for alternative health systems

“Intercultural Management for Development”

Comunicación Derechos Lenguas Salud Sustentabilidad

PRESENCIAL PRESENCIAL

Virtual, tutorial y semipresencial

“Multimodal Programme of Integrated Training”

Licenciatura en Gestión Intercultural para el Desarrollo

RESEARCH

TEACHING COMMUNITYSERVICE

Researchon

TeachingTeaching

forResearch

Teaching on Community Service

Community Servicefor Teaching

Researchon

Community ServiceCommunity

Servicefor

Research

Relation betweenResearch, Teaching & Community Service

UVI students start researching on their community and regional realities, in order to:

• Recognize sociocultural problems

• Carry out local and regional “diagnosis”

• Priorize social needs and community claims with regard to development measures

• Create or strengthen networks of social actors linked to community or regional development

The Students’ Community-Research

The UVI teaching and research staff:

• carry out individual and collective research

• closely linked to teaching and community service priorities, according to the 5 “orientations”(= departments)

• search for relevant research with potenital impact in the regions of Veracruz

The teachers´community-research

COMMUNICATION• Management of arts and cultural projects

LANGUAGES• Processes of promoting indigenous language usage• Tools for linguistic and cultural recovery• Development of communicative competences

RIGHTS• Legal procedures of indigenous justice systems and models

of conflict management• Indigenous peoples´ participation in decision-making,

autonomy agreements and policy making• Gender-related discrimination and violence

The Departments’ Research Priorities

HEALTH•Health models in intercultural contexts•Social networks of health provision •Sociocultural epidemiology•Nutrition and interculturality

SUSTAINABILITY•Agro-ecological production processes•Territorial appropriation for sustainable regional development

The Departments’ Research Priorities

• Participative water and water basin management in four regions of Veracruz

• Articulation of inter-actor knowledge networks for sustainability

• Visibilization of the Veracruz cultural heritage

• Inter-Cultural, Inter-Lingual and Inter-Actoral Processes of Constructing and Managing Knowledge in the UVI (InterSaberes)

Collective research projects:

• “Laboratory on Research Methodologies”

• M.A. Programme in Intercultural Education

• Research Unit on Intercultural Studies

In-Service UVI Teacher Training:

Ethnographic Meta-Research “InterSaberes”

• To analize how diverse forms of knowledge are being constructed, exchanged, managed, linked and mutually fertilized throughout the UVI programme

• To open and promote channels and networks among heterogeneous actors who generate and/or manage global and local forms of knowledge

• To integrate these alternative forms of knowledge into the UVI academic programmes and community service activities

• To elucidate the underlying “grammar of diversity” which helps to articulate cultural, ethnic, linguistic, religious, gender and generational dimensions of identity/alterity

Ethnographic Meta-Research “InterSaberes”• “Meta-discourse analysis” of inter-cultural, inter-lingual and

inter-actoral networks of knowledge exchange, circulation and hybridization

• Identification of underlying “grammar structures” of these networks and institutions, which allow for their multi-dimensional cohesion and integration:

– their “semantic” dimension: the identity discourses of the participating academic, community and NGO actors,

– their “pragmatic” dimension: the habitualized practices of interaction and of knowledge circulation among these actors

– Their “syntactic” dimension: the UV institutinoal frames and their transformation through processes of decentralization, interdiscipinarization and departamentalization

Ethnographic Meta-Research “InterSaberes”• Dialogical research:

1) inter-actoral understanding2) inter-lingual articulation3) inter-cultural visibilization

• Reflexive research:1) intra-cultural, emic, empowerment perspective

(difference, identity)2) inter-cultural, etic, cross-cutting perspective

(diversity, interaction)3) trans-cultural, emic/etic, critical-transformational

perspective (inequality, hegemony)

Ethnographic Meta-Research “InterSaberes”

• Through 3 axes of analysis:– Inequality paradigm = “vertical analysis”, universalist approach &

monolingual and monocultural habitus– Difference paradigm = “horizontal analysis”, particularist approach

& multicultural habitus– Diversity paradigm = intercultural, i.e. relacional, transversal &

“interseccional” analysis

• Emphasis on the 3 dimensions:– “inter-cultural” = expressions and intertwinings of cultural and

pedagogical practices which react to different, underlying logics or “grammars”

– “inter-actoral” = patterns and channels of negotiation and mutual knowledge transfer among the different actors

– “inter-lingual” = not substantial, but relational competences which ensure transfer and translation between heterogeneous and asymmetrical linguistic and cultural horizons

Ethnographic Meta-Research “InterSaberes”

• To analize how diverse forms of knowledge are being constructed, exchanged, managed, linked and mutually fertilized throughout the UVI programme

• To open and promote channels and networks among heterogeneous actors who generate and/or manage global and local forms of knowledge

• To integrate these alternative forms of knowledge into the UVI academic programmes and community service activities

• To elucidate the underlying “grammar of diversity” which helps to articulate cultural, ethnic, linguistic, religious, gender and generational dimensions of identity/alterity

Ethnographic Meta-Research “InterSaberes”• “Meta-discourse analysis” of inter-cultural, inter-lingual and

inter-actoral networks of knowledge exchange, circulation and hybridization

• Identification of underlying “grammar structures” of these networks and institutions, which allow for their multi-dimensional cohesion and integration:

– their “semantic” dimension: the identity discourses of the participating academic, community and NGO actors,

– their “pragmatic” dimension: the habitualized practices of interaction and of knowledge circulation among these actors

– Their “syntactic” dimension: the UV institutinoal frames and their transformation through processes of decentralization, interdiscipinarization and departamentalization

semantics pragmatics syntaxactor-centred interaction-centred

institution-centred

Identity, ethnicity

culture(intra- / inter-culture)

territorialized units

= discourse = practice = structure

ethnographic interviews

participant observation “intercultural workshops”

= emic = etic = emic / etic (“epistemological

windows”)

Ethnographic Meta-Research “InterSaberes”• Dialogical research:

1) inter-actoral understanding2) inter-lingual articulation3) inter-cultural visibilization

• Reflexive research:1) intra-cultural, emic, empowerment perspective

(difference, identity)2) inter-cultural, etic, cross-cutting perspective

(diversity, interaction)3) trans-cultural, emic/etic, critical-transformational

perspective (inequality, hegemony)

Ethnographic Meta-Research “InterSaberes”

• Through 3 axes of analysis:– Inequality paradigm = “vertical analysis”, universalist approach &

monolingual and monocultural habitus– Difference paradigm = “horizontal analysis”, particularist approach

& multicultural habitus– Diversity paradigm = intercultural, i.e. relacional, transversal &

“interseccional” analysis

• Emphasis on the 3 dimensions:– “inter-cultural” = expressions and intertwinings of cultural and

pedagogical practices which react to different, underlying logics or “grammars”

– “inter-actoral” = patterns and channels of negotiation and mutual knowledge transfer among the different actors

– “inter-lingual” = not substantial, but relational competences which ensure transfer and translation between heterogeneous and asymmetrical linguistic and cultural horizons

INEQUALITY

DIVERSITY

DIFFERENCE

• trans-cultural• structural (etic)• vertical= “syntactical” axisunderlying structures

• intra-cultural• identity-related (emic)• horizontal= “semantic” axis(verbalizable) discourse

• inter-cultural• “interseccional”,

hybrid• cross-cutting= “pragmatic” axis(observable) praxis