Child Heritage Education at the Museum of Cultures of Oaxaca: Interpreting their Views on Historic and Architectural Contexts

Current discourses about heritage in museums often relegate visiting children to being passive spectators and therefore, childhood remains distant from the official narratives of history and identity. To address this issue, this article examines how elementary education children in Oaxaca, Mexico, construct meanings and values around cultural heritage at the Museum of Cultures of Oaxaca through their own voices. The research utilizes semi-structured interviews to identify the relationship between official museum communication and the children's lived experiences, often showing disconnection. The findings reveal that when heritage objects can be linked to their daily-life, children assign identity-based value to them. Consequently, meaningful intercultural dissemination is proposed to be encouraged, prioritizing dialogue and allowing children’s perspectives to reshape heritage education into a tool for intercultural recognition and community reconnection.