Educating Young Children to Be Members of an Indigenous Colombian Community

• In Event: 42.066 - Vygotsky in Colombia

Abstract

The Muisca were the indigenous people who were living, when the Spanish conquistadors arrived, in a territory of 18,000 square miles centered on what is currently Bogotá, Colombia. They had an advanced civilization, with a confederation of states, an economy based on agriculture, mining, metalworking and manufacturing, and a sophisticated worldview. The Muisca have, however, been declared a “lost civilization,” their language “extinct.” A 1943 census recorded only 525 surviving members.

Since 1989, however, a process of reconstruction of the Muisca people has been taking place. Key to this reconstruction is the creation of kindergartens in which children will learn again how to be Muisca. To study this process of constitution we conducted research in one of the three kindergartens, documenting the educational practices in which the explicit focus is not only knowing but also becoming. The project has been a collaborative one: we have been keen to avoid the risks and costs of colonialist research design; we intend that our findings will contribute to the ongoing design of instructional practices. The question “¿Cómo ser Muisca?” (“How to be Muisca?”) has been both our research question and the practical concern that has guided everyday practice in the institution (an application of “Sacks’ gloss”; Garfinkel & Wieder, 1970).

The research focused on the kindergarten and preK classrooms, with children of 5 years and 3 and 4 years of age respectively. A longitudinal ethnography of everyday activities in these classrooms over 14 months led to identification of three constituents of being Muisca: being ‘raizal’ (that is to say, having roots in the traditional territory), being of a ‘clan’ (having Muisca kinship, indicated by having a last name traditionally associated with the community), and being spiritual. This last constituent involved appropriating three central ancestral traditions. First, the artistic traditions of clay and ceramics. Second, medicinal traditions. Third, the tradition of being protector of the land, growing and preparing ancestral food. Central to these traditions was cultivation of a special relationship with maize, the key to the Amerindian way of life.

The preschool’s curriculum and instructional activities were assembled on the basis of these three constituents. One fascinating finding was that in general the pedagogy involved three stages in which imagination had a pivotal role: first the children were invited to engage in imagining a communitya practice, then the actual practice was introduced to them, and finally they participated directly in the practice. For example, first they were invited to imagine grinding corn and preparing food such as tomales. Then they were shown the tools used for grinding and preparing the corn. Finally, they used these tools themselves, with guidance from the ‘abuelos,’ the elders of the community, who visited the school on a regular basis.

Authors

• Martha Rocío Gonzalez, Universidad de los Andes

• Martin John Packer, Universidad de los Andes