In the past weeks we have been talking about the current trends in higher education such as (1) globalization where now the world becomes the horizon and the actual market, (2) the need for internationalization in Asia, and the perception than a more internationalized university is better (3) integration in Europe, that started with the Bologna process, (4) and a common objective of placing education at the center, because of the knowledge economy.
But there is also an important aspect to discuss about universities; in times when most universities are moving towards internationalization, the aspect of interculturality cannot be left behind the discussion. Interculturality has been defined as the interaction of people from different cultural backgrounds using authentic language appropriately that demonstrates knowledge and understanding of the cultures. As Pedota mentions, currently there is a lack of universities that consider indigenous people to enable them to participate in governmental, economic and social structures, neither universities that teach indigenous knowledge as an integral part of the curriculum.
Pedota presents some interesting initiatives that have emerged in Latin America, either as newly created higher education institutions rooted inside indigenous regions, or as conventional universities starting to ‘interculturalize’ its student population, teaching staff, and curricular contents and methods. The idea of diversifying the students profiles and the curricular contents goes in hand with the trend of higher education institutions becoming more efficient, locally adapted, and outcome oriented. The Indigenous Intercultural Universities in Latin America started in the early 90’s with the aim to generate knowledge that is relevant for the communities in which they are located, but also Pedota emphasizes,with the aim to generate a ‘dialogue of knowledges’ among social actors from different cultures. In Intercultural Universities modernity and tradition mix up to take the best part of each. One example is the Indigenous Intercultural University that seeks to respond to the sociocultural, political, economic and educational proposals and expectations of the Indigenous People, without overlooking the academic standards typical of Higher Education. Other examples are the PROEIB Andes in Bolivia, and Intercultural University in Veracruz (IUV) in Mexico.
But is it really possible to achieve interculturality? As stated by Williamson, it will be possible only if the state establishes an obligatory standard for the whole system based on universally applicable laws, and if there is a profound change in the current higher education system and in the communities where social players actually live.
What do you think? Can we still have intercultural universities these days?
Sources: PEDOTA, Luciano. “Indigenous Intercultural Universities in Latin America: Interpreting Interculturalism in Mexico and Bolivia”. Loyola, University of Chicago. 2011 http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1515&context=luc_theses WILLIAMSON, Guillermo. “Is the interculturalization of Chile’s universities a real possibility?”. SAGE Journals - Arts & Humanities in Higher Education. Vol 16, Issue 1, 2017. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1474022215600924 GUILHERME, Manuela. “Winds of the South: Intercultural university models in the 21st century”. SAGE Journals - Arts & Humanities in Higher Education. Vol 16, Issue 1, 2017. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1474022216680599
Thank you Lucia! I recently stumbled upon an event notice at Columbia that is relevant to this post (please see below). I think one of the main keys to achieve interculturality is definitely through how we teach and learn in universities (i.e. the pedagogy we use as teaching assistants/ presenters/ discussion facilitators). There is a need for us as graduate students/ TAs/ future professors to learn how to engage with different frames of reference, for example seeing things from a specific cultural or historical perspective, being sufficiently aware of distinctive cultural features and current affairs in certain parts of the world, etc — so that we will be able to foster a learning environment that considers different cultures across gender, social classes, ethnic and racial groups, physical/intellectual abilities and age groups etc. After all the purpose of interculturality is to gain a more diverse, complete and hopefully more enlightened perspective of the world, isn’t it?
This event is happening on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM at the Butler Library (more details in the link below) — if anyone’s interested!
Inclusive Teaching: Toward an Intercultural Pedagogy
“Intercultural competence is defined broadly as the “ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations, to shift frames of reference appropriately and adapt behavior to cultural context” (Deardorff 2006). In this workshop, you and other members of the Columbia University community will consider strategies for making learning environments more inclusive by employing the principles of intercultural pedagogy. You will reflect on your experiences with diversity and inclusivity in the classroom, engage with the concept of course climate, and analyze teaching case studies. In the process, you should gain a deeper, more practical understanding of how to design and facilitate inclusive learning in your discipline.”
https://events.columbia.edu/cal/event/showEventMore.rdo;jsessionid=DD58FEC961B64D6447056C15C10E7A13
Thank you Lucia, you bring up a great point.
I think it is important to define the scope of culture these universities want to bring on and if they want culture to linger on, or open doors for indigenous communities and create bridges from them to become part of the work force. One of the biggest concerns in Mexico are the indigenous languages. What will happen to them? and should they continue to be spoken in remote areas where communities cannot speak Spanish? If we say language is a part of culture how can be deal with this?
The questions requires first a definition of culture. In other words, you might say that multicultural is across social classes, across intellectual backgrounds, across geographic origins, across ethnic and race, across age categories, etc.
Some universities do try to implement multiculturalism through their admission policy. Yet, this is not enough. Once on campus, how do one makes sure that all these differences do not disappear in a single imposed model ?