ORGANISM

Devenir Universidad is a growing organism, a living collaborative assemblage of different actors. This organism is linked by a lifeline to the territory and hence is more than simply a network among humans. Plants, animals, rivers, forests, mineral deposits, the weather, their spirits and countless other actors are playing an active part in this organism. Science is also a strong, if contested, actor, but so are the forces emanating from indigenous practices of knowledge.

In all this ecology of people, institutions, practices and forests, we are redefining the place of the subject. The organism is not only linked to this particular geography, it is also deeply connected to the territorial ancestral history and its future. How can we be part of an ethics of becoming? The organism should help us understand and reconstruct this wider ethical dimension: the ethics of potential for that which we are capable of doing together as humans and other-than.

The Biocultural Indigenous University is an initiative led by the Inga people of Colombia, who have been extending their network of internal and external allies to give impetus to achieving sovereignty of education and territory. The Inga have an Assembly of approx. 100 members, a legal representative, Hernando Chindoy Chindoy, and various social organizations, among them the Inga Education Team composed of eight delegates from various corners of their territory.

• Agripina Garreta (Middle and lower Putumayo)

• Serafin Jajoy (Higher Putumayo)

• Irma Mojomboy (Lower Bota Caucana)

• Juan Carlos Jamioy Palacios (Cabildo Inga San Agustín-Huila)

• Flora Macas (Caquetá-Yachaikuri)

• Yeni Yolanda Jacanamejoy (Yunguillo)

• Encarnacion Janamejoy (Aponte)

• Antonia Agreda (Bogota)

• Coordinator: Waira Nina Jacanamijoy Mutumbajoy

• Pedagogic Adviser: Leidy Marcela Bravo Osorio

Upon invitation of the Inga community, a number of academics, artists and architects have committed to support this institution-building project in various capacities. This non-indigenous team collaborates with various Inga actors and associations in the territory and with non-Inga partners in the region (municipality, builders, experts). Research is conducted by intercultural teams composed of Inga and academic researchers. Academic researchers are:

• Ursula Biemann, artist (artistic, conceptual and territorial research).

• Santiago del Hierro, architect (territorial research, architectural design, planning, infographics).

• Álvaro Hernández Bello, pedagogue (education, state-university relationships).

• Giovanna Micarelli, anthropologist (territorial research, interculturality, indigenous epistemologies and methodologies).

• Leidy Marcela Bravo Osorio (indigenous and intercultural education, biology and cultural diversity).

• Juliana Ramírez, architect (territorial research, architectural design, planning, materials).

• Iván Dario Vargas-Roncancio, legal scholar (ecological law, indigenous epistemologies and methodologies).

Academic researchers are associated with the following Universities in Colombia and abroad forming research groups in various constellations:

• National University of Colombia UNAL (Ursula Biemann, Álvaro Hernández Bello, Iván Darío VargasRoncancio, in addition to Maria Belen Saez de Ibarra, Director of Cultural Heritage Department).

• Pontifica Javeriana University (Giovanna Micarelli, Juliana Hernandez, in addition to Martin Anzellini, Dean of Architecture Dept.)

• ETH Zurich (Santiago del Hierro, Ursula Biemann)

• McGill University, Leadership for the Ecozoic (Iván Darío Vargas-Roncancio)

• National Pedagogic University of Colombia (Marcela Bravo-Orsorio)

The intercultural co-creation of the University involves multiple areas:

The creation of biocultural methodologies and pedagogical designs.

Pluri-epistemic research embracing a breadth of knowledge in the task of decolonizing modern science.

Spatial planning and architectural design.

The biocultural re-assembly/memory of the Inga people.

Audiovisual and experiential communication.

Ecological regeneration and sustainable production for bioeconomy.

Legal support for the formalization of the university.

Positioning strategies to achieve international support.

Socializing the project among the Inga and in dialogue with other indigenous and regional communities.