Kaingang indigenous Education: from a colonial pedagogy to an intercultural one

Abstract

This bibliographic and documentary article aims to analyze the challenges of Kaingang indigenous education from the perspective of the epistemology of the South and interculturality. Kaingang history is permeated by tensions, conflicts, contradictions, disputes, and cultural and territorial resistance. These are clashes of various kinds, including educational and cultural ones. Here, we will analyze different educational experiences with the Kaingang: one in the 19th century when Jesuit priests worked in the village of Nonoai on a colonizing educational project, with support from the provincial government; in the 21st century, two intercultural experiences stand out: the Wãfy project and the Kaingang Intercultural Pedagogy course. The underlying question is: how can intercultural education be effectively implemented today? How can the realities of indigenous communities be integrated with the curricula, methodologies, teaching practices, and traditional knowledge that are fundamental to the resilience of these populations? The article begins with a general discussion of the issue; briefly reconstructs the experiences of the 19th century and those of the 21st century; highlights the basic elements of the epistemology of the South and of interculturality; and concludes by reflecting on the advances and challenges of Kaingang intercultural education.