Positioning Peruvian rural teachers’ voices in the Global North: an autoethnographic research

This paper foregrounds the integration of indigenous knowledge from Inca heritage into rural education in Peru, highlighting the pivotal role of critical pedagogies deployed by rural teachers in Cusco and Ayacucho (Southern highlands of Peru). As a researcher with indigenous Peruvian roots based in the United Kingdom (UK), I have confronted diverse challenges in representing these teachers’ practices in the UK and Global North academia. Some of the issues include the limited recognition of indigenous non-Western knowledge, language barriers, and cultural misunderstandings. This paper addresses these challenges based on an autoethnography which summarises a doctoral journey alongside the voices of Peruvian rural teachers. By employing epistemic injustice and critical pedagogy frameworks, the paper also discusses strategies for positioning Global South research in the Global North academic forums. Finally, this work seeks to bridge the gap between Southern knowledge and Western academic spaces, advocating for the recognition of indigenous perspectives.