Indigenous representation in higher education: promoting health and sustainability beyond territories

ABSTRACT Indigenous peoples’ access to Brazilian universities has had an exclusionary history. With the aim of analyzing implications and consequences of their presence in these spaces, a federal university was the object of this intervention study due to its pioneering spirit. Indigenous students, teachers, and managers exposed, in focus groups and interviews, ‘unsaid’ aspects of indigenous higher education. It was verified how their contemporary movements leave the territories and reach the sector, dialoguing with the proposals for health promotion, sustainability, and Sustainable Development Goals. Advances, difficulties, contradictions, and cultural contributions reveal their importance and favor broader issues, offering new perspectives on the processes developed.