48-3: Indigenous Education: Safeguarding Our Knowledge for Future Generations

The Koĩts-Sunuwar Peoples of Nepal have a deeply rooted Indigenous system of education that emphasizes learning through observation, practice, community socialization, participation in cultural and spiritual rituals, and the transmission of oral teachings. Despite the increasing presence of modern classroom-style education, the Koĩts-Sunuwar have maintained their traditional education methods.

The rigid confines of the U.S. education system, with its 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM schedule, the classic setup of a public school classroom, and the lessons I regularly was unable to relate to never quite suited me as an Indigenous child, and once I began failing my classes, it made me question my own intelligence. It’s not that I didn’t understand the school work; it was that I was too uninterested to complete it.

The Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture, familiarly known as FestPAC, is the largest celebration of Indigenous Pacific Islanders worldwide. This year marked the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture, which convened in Hawaiʻi on June 6-16, 2024, on the island of Oʻahu.

When an Indigenous language goes silent, a vital part of a culture is lost. The ideologies, knowledge, and ways of life that are expressed through the words of that language cannot be communicated fluently through a foreign language. Colonization and the imposition of foreign languages, have, on many occasions, abruptly and violently displaced the original languages of Indigenous Peoples.

Gloria Guadalupe Dzib Kumul (Maya) is a 29-year-old educator from Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico. Growing up in a household where Mayan was the primary language, she developed the ability to converse fluently in both Spanish and Mayan. This shaped her identity and ignited her passion for preserving and revitalizing Indigenous languages through education. Dzib is deeply committed to her Maya roots. She is a primary education teacher in Kanxoc, Valladolid, Yucatan, and recently earned a master’s degree in Intercultural Bilingual Primary Education.

My name is Eli Huehuentru. I am a 28-year-old Mapuche artist, part of the J.H. community Xomio, Padre Las Casas (PLC), Gulumapu-Wallmapu, Mapuche territory in resistance in Chile. My relationship with music began at the age of nine when I had a violin that came into my hands through a social orchestra project called FOJI in 2004 in the PLC community. There, I learned how to play the violin and share music with other children in the PLC children’s orchestra.

Catalina Vergara Realpe (Nasa) hails from the southwestern part of Colombia. Although her roots are tied to the territory of the Nasa People of Valle del Cauca, department of Cauca, she spent most of her childhood in Ecuador. Her experiences growing up opened her eyes to the diversity of cultures and their relationship to landscapes, which deepened her appreciation for nature and its inextricable connection to human existence.

Sisa Anrango (Otavalo Kichwa) is a Kichwa woman from the Puñaru/Punyaro community in Otavalo, Ecuador. She currently works as an online Kichwa teacher specializing in creating fully immersive Kichwa learning spaces for all levels. In 2018, she received a scholarship to travel to the Basque Country, Spain, to participate in a postgraduate course on linguistic revitalization strategies and methodology for teaching second languages at the University of Mondragón.

The San Peoples, known as Khwe, make up 80 percent of the 5,500 people that live in the Bwabwata National Park in northeastern Namibia. Bwabwata is the ancestral land of the San. In 2007, when the national park was established, the San people were relocated and confined to limited areas. Many members of the community face hardship and survive by gathering wild food and medicines through knowledge passed to us by our ancestors. They primarily harvest Devil’s Claw, which is sold all over the world and is a vital form of income for families.

By Kaimana Barcarse (Kanaka Hawai’i, CS Board Member)