A new open access article by Tuija Veintie, Johanna Hohenthal, Katy Machoa and Anders Sirén is published in the Journal Diaspora, Indigenous and Minority Education. Studies of Migration, Integration, Equity, and Cultural Survival.
The article discusses educational inequities related to digital divide, Indigenous education and community resilience against multiple crises. The study brings forward perspectives from the Amazonian Indigenous Kichwa and Shuar communities in the Pastaza Province in Ecuador. National level surveys do not reach the Amazonian youth living in Indigenous communities due to poor quality of telecommunication networks and limited or no access to information and communication technologies. This study is based on interviews with school directors from nine Intercultural bilingual upper secondary schools and a case study that involves teachers, students, parents and leaders in one remote rural Indigenous Kichwa community.
The article discusses the Indigenous community educational resilience in the face of global Covid-19 health crisis, national economic crisis and extreme flooding and the consequences of national level education policies for the educational inequities as lived by Indigenous youth. This study demonstrates the weak response of the state, highlights Indigenous community resilience and concludes with Indigenous visions for future education, in line with sumak kawsay (life in plenitude) and sacha runa yachay (knowledge of the people of the rainforest), Indigenous conceptualisations related to education for sustainable development.
Highlights:
- Virtual education during the pandemic produces educational inequities due to disparities in access to ICT and relevant pedagogical materials.
- Distance education policy has not been feasible in Ecuadorian Amazonia and has resulted in the marginalization of Indigenous students.
- Self-management and resistance to homogenizing national policies are key to the educational resilience of Indigenous communities.
- Multiple crises have reinforced Indigenous knowledge, healthcare and educational practices in the studied Kichwa community.
Veintie, T., Hohenthal, J., Betancourt Machoa, K., & Anders, S. (2022). The (im)possibilities of education in Amazonia: assessing the resilience of intercultural bilingual education in the midst of multiple crises. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2021.2015317