KNOWLEDGE TRANSMISSION

Knowledge transmission is founded on the biocultural principle that nature and culture are not separate but form relationships of interdependence and continuity. In this sense, the territory, with its visible and invisible beings, human and non-human, is not simply the stage where culture occurs but, rather, is a sentient and cognizing being, that is, a living “agent” of knowledge. Indigenous knowledge not being a primarily text-based practice, higher education will be implemented through active, place-based learning in a lively setting of workshops, fieldwork, social investigations, laboratories, agricultural test grounds and biodiverse research gardens (chagra).

Education has been a major tool for colonizing the indigenous minds and integrating the communities into the colonial project directed from the Andean power centers. In the early 20th century, with the new road connecting the Andean cities with Mocoa, Capuchin missionaries appeared in the regions of Putumayo and Caquetá. The missionary schools, prohibiting indigenous children to speak their native language, taught mostly religious texts in addition to the history and geography of the colonizers. But they were the only education available in the region until the 1990s. In resistance to the imposition of a foreign religious education system, Inga women in Caqueta (Natividad Mocumboy, Flora Marcas, Waira Jacanamijoy), began to toure remote Inga territories along the Fragua river and in other geographies, in an effort to strengthen the social cohesion and stimulate common political and educational goals in these communities. These pioneers were the driving force behind the creation of the first Inga primary school, Iachaikury, in the municipality of Iurayaco, and the development of a proper Inga education system, the Inga Ethno-Education Plan.

Today, the majority of the population living in these regions, whether indigenous or colonial settlers, have a low degree of formal education. As there is no institution of higher education in the area, students who are striving for a university education have to move to towns in the Andean region or to faraway cities like Medellin or Bogotá, which for a poor population represents a major obstacle. Those who do complete their degree in these institutions often do not return to their community, not least because the education they receive fails to meet the demands of a life in the indigenous territories. The continuous drain of young, educated people leads to a population who lacks the skills for assuming many of the most essential tasks required to thrive culturally and economically both in their territories and beyond. Hence there is a great need for an institution of higher learning in the region.

The Inga Education Team, composed of delegates of the eight Inga territorial zones, is leading the process of conceiving and coordinating the future University in terms of pedagogy. The curricula build around areas, rather than disciplines and may be developed in workshops with a committed team of academic partners on tentative themes such as: Learning across epistemological difference in Amazonia; Experiences of Indigenous Universities in Colombia and abroad; Intercultural translations: the writing of oral traditions and indigenous languages as a research and educational tool; Inga Law and territorial governance; traditional medicine; Indigenous ecological economy, among other areas.

Inga spirituality, medicine, and ritual ceremonies are of central importance in guiding the paths of knowing that, for the Inga, are not just paths of investigation and construction of knowledge, but of affection, solidarity, and the pursuit of overall well-being for the multiplicity of beings and forms of life co-existing in the territory.

Indigenous knowledge not being a primarily text-based practice, higher education will be implemented through active, place-based learning in a lively setting of workshops, fieldwork, social investigations, laboratories, agricultural test grounds and biodiverse research gardens (chagra), without discarding textual knowledge. Pedagogical projects unfold around practical activities that summons students, teachers, families, communities, the elderly, and authorities in such spaces as the chagra, the tulpa (the fireplace), the minga (communal work) conversations, assemblies, community meetings, rituals, and a range of artistic expressions. Hence, conceptually, the University is a composition that spreads across the entire territory encompassing various locations that are suitable for learning particular contents. River-learning, forest-learning, language-learning, agricultural practice, all require different sites for education. Inga spirituality, medicine, and ritual ceremonies are of central importance in guiding the paths of knowing that, for the Inga, are not just paths of investigation and construction of knowledge, but of affection, solidarity, and the pursuit of overall well-being for the multiplicity of beings and forms of life co-existing in the territory. Accordingly, school calendars take into account ecological and cosmological calendars and territorial specificities to pursue the maintenance of healthy biocultural interactions.

Respecting and defending the integrality between ecological justice and cognitive justice, the concept of biocultural knowledge also advocates a pluriepistemic openness, that is, the egalitarian articulation between different forms of knowledge.

Knowledge transmission is founded on the biocultural principle that nature and culture are not separate but form relationships of interdependence and continuity. In this sense, the territory, with its visible and invisible beings, human and non-human, is not simply the stage where culture occurs but, rather, is a sentient and cognizing being, that is, a living “agent” of knowledge. Instead of using knowledge as a tool for domination and wealth generation, the biocultural paradigm on which this University is founded, advocates the co-emergence and ethical cohabitation of and between humans and non-humans. Respecting and defending the integrality between ecological justice and cognitive justice, the concept of biocultural knowledge also advocates a pluriepistemic openness, that is, the egalitarian articulation between different forms of knowledge.