Indigenous People in Latin America: Movements and Universities. Achievements, Challenges, and Intercultural Conflicts

The idea of social movements tends to be associated, in a reductionist manner, with protests in public spaces and negotiations in institutional spaces. Nevertheless, social movements are agents of change across a wide variety of social spaces. One of the most notable ones is that of education. While the most visible initiatives tend to be short-term courses, some sectors of several social movements have also promoted higher education programmes through alliances with conventional Higher Education institutions, or have created their own institutions. Indigenous peoples around the world have long fought for their educational rights. Some have struggled for access to higher education institutions, for suitable reforms to existing institutions, and for the right to establish their own institutions. Their interest in advancing higher education initiatives is directly related to a need to train individuals in political, professional and technical resource areas in order to successfully advance projects of social, economic, political, institutional, and/or legal reforms. Based on participatory field and documentary research, this article discusses some salient aspects of the experiences of higher education institutions that sectors of indigenous people movements in Latin America have established, highlighting their main achievements and challenges, as well as the intercultural conflicts they confront.