Bildung als Instrument sozialer Bewegungen

What is it about?

The development of the indigenous movement in Ecuador since its beginning in the 1920s goes hand in hand with the development of structures of education by this movement. The first schools were illegal, but allowed for indigenous children to learn in their mother-tongue. Later, officially recognized attempts, with the support of different religious actors, develop further structures that finally, in the 1980s are integrated into a national state-based structure, controlled by the indigenous organizations. This worked until 2010, when the autonomy of the office for intercultural bilingual education was ended. The whole experience can be understood as the construction of free spaces that allow to overcome structural exclusion of indigenous people and therefore provide the different indigenous organizations with legitimity and ressources.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The indigenous movement in Ecuador could overcome with its own means a structural exclusion and become a main actor in national and international politics. The building-up of its own structures is a main part of this success.