Abstract

RIVERA OLVERA, María del Carmen; MORFIN OTERO, Francisco  and  MATEOS-CORTES, Laura Selene. Community Footprints in Students’ Formative Trajectories at the Instituto Superior Intercultural Ayuuk. Rev. latinoam. estud. educ. [online]. 2023, vol.53, n.3, pp.579-611.  Epub Oct 06, 2023. ISSN 2448-878X.  https://doi.org/10.48102/rlee.2023.53.3.590.

In this article, we analyze the “community footprints” we perceive in the trajectories of indigenous students of the Instituto Superior Intercultural Ayuuk, located in the Mixe region in Oaxaca, Mexico, a communitarian intercultural higher education institution that is independent of the intercultural educational model proposed by the governmental General Coordination of Intercultural and Bilingual Education and that is part of the Jesuit University System. The aim of our research was to identify and analyze the imprints the community features leave in the indigenous students´ trajectories during their transition through this university. Throughout ethnographic fieldwork, we used indepth semi-structured interviews and participant observations with eight youngsters studying for a bachelor’s degree in Intercultural Education. The data analysis, applied through Grounded Theory, showed that the training trajectories are multidimensional and that they are shaped by experiences the students obtain not only in the academic but also and predominantly in the community and family context. In addition, it is shown that the learning processes through the communitarian and intercultural educational model and the dynamics generated by its respective “university life” trigger in young people identity transformations that lead them to rediscover and revalue their territory, their language, and their indigenous identity.

Keywords : intercultural education; educational trajectory; university-community relation; young; cultural diversity.