Yeknemilis and Buen Vivir. Decolonial approaches to indigenous language and education

Abstract

Latin American countries share an extraordinary diversity and overwhelming inequality. Indigenous people in this region are overly represented among the disadvantaged and face a variety of challenges that demand for linguistic, political and educational considerations. Within this context, an indigenous community initiated an educational grassroots project to help their children navigate an unequal school process that disregards indigenous language and culture. Local bottom-up projects such as this have often been more effective than government top-down programs designed to this effect. Based on a qualitative study -a critical ethnography on local language planning- I am presenting the case of ‘Tosepan Kalnemachtiloyan’, a Nahuat immersion and indigenous bilingual school from the sierra de Puebla, Mexico. Their educational effort focuses on indigenous language revitalization within their school, and the (re)value of indigenous knowledge. This effort has had quite an impact on power and knowledge in this context, locating them in a decolonial stance and fissure (Mignolo, 2007; Walsh, 2015). The school’s curriculum is guided by ‘Yeknemilis’. This indigenous concept means: vida buena, vida digna. It can be roughly translated as ‘a good life' –a dignified one– within the indigenous perspective and ethical values: solidarity, reciprocity and high respect for nature’. Yeknemilis comes from Nahuat indigenous epistemologies; it has echoes of Sumak Kawsay and Buen Vivir. These concepts challenge the idea of ‘development’ as a Western construct (Escobar, 2007) and the notion of life centred on progress, and ‘modern’ possessions. Tosepan Kalnemachtiloyan is within a fight for their own alternative (Mignolo & Escobar, 2013), for their own epistemology –and methodological view. The wider effort of this indigenous school –and community– has allowed them to challenge the oppressing power relations between mestizos and indigenous people traditionally seen in the Mexican context. Their effort might illuminate and connect decolonial thinking in Mexico and Latin America, with decolonial perspectives in Aotearoa New Zealand. As such, Tosepan’s organic perspective will be discussed, as well as the daring adaptations they have made to facilitate their journey. A journey to claim their place in a region that seems to have overlooked them for a long time.