TheEducation of Indigenous Citizens in Latin America

This book examines the development of intercultural bilingual education throughout Latin America, focusing on practices that preserve the cultural and linguistic diversity of Indigenous peoples. The contributors trace the trajectory of political and policy issues related to the implementation of intercultural bilingual education.

Regina Cortina is Associate Professor of Education in the Department of International and Transcultural Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her current research explores European aid to education in Latin America and its strategic importance for the field of international and comparative education. Dr Cortina studies the role of education in international development and poverty reduction, particularly focusing on ways in which greater opportunities can be created for marginalized groups.

Regina Cortina is Associate Professor of Education in the Department of International and Transcultural Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her current research explores European aid to education in Latin America and its strategic importance for the field of international and comparative education. Dr Cortina studies the role of education in international development and poverty reduction, particularly focusing on ways in which greater opportunities can be created for marginalized groups.

The present publication provides a highly relevant and up-to-date overview on the contemporary trends that are shaping intercultural and bilingual education for Latin American indigenous peoples. Both well established and experienced researchers and emerging young academics guide us through a landscape of very diverse contexts, but which are inter-related through the transnationally disseminated discourse of interculturality – a discourse which still faces the challenge of being appropriated and re-signified by local and regional educational actors and institutions.

A must-read for scholars, students, and others interested in issues of social justice. An engaging collection of papers on the rising political voice of Indigenous movements in Latin America, their struggle against forced assimilation, and their demand for recognition of their unique ways of knowing and being.

Few, if any, English-language surveys of indigenous and intercultural education have ever offered scholars and students the historical and national depth that is evident in this wonderful collection, while also presenting such a wide vista on the international and local political actors in this field. Regina Cortina has assembled an invaluable resource not only for those concerned with Latin America, but for anyone wishing to understand how national-level and global movements are being reshaped, and frequently contested, by the actualized demands of indigenous leaders and movements.