Emerging political identities: indigenous teachers as a collective subject in Mexico and Colombia (Colonies- 1990)

Abstract

This article is about the sociopolitical history of education for native peoples and the construction of identities of indigenous teachers in Mexico and Colombia. This research covers the period from the Colony to the homogeneous nation-state [1] prior to the 1990s. A historical recount was carried out by means of the comparative-historical methodology, proposed by Bloch, based on academic documents, of both countries, such as theses; laws; decrees; and declarations. At the beginning of this period, it is widely evident the interest of both regions to achieve the national unity through a mestizo nation model, where the education -directed by the Church / State or by the State- was the strategy to nullify the cultural, political, and social identity of the native peoples. In the middle of the 20th century, tensions took place between the social movements of the indigenous peoples and the homogeneous nation-states. Special emphasis is placed on the educational proposal for indigenous peoples, and indigenous teachers training of both States, and on the diligence of those peoples to vindicate themselves, as collective subjects before the State. In this way, the identities of the indigenous teachers emerge, mainly, in the tension between the strength of the State and the resistance of the indigenous peoples, as political subjects.