decolonization of education in bolivia

7/30/2019 Decolonization of education in Bolivia

1/74

Stakeholders perceptions of the Decolonization of Education and intra-culturaleducation debates in contemporary Bolivia: An anthropological study

Maja Waters Senneseth

Student Number: 1804561

Master Thesis

Master Programme in Social and Cultural Anthropology

Faculty of Social Science

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

06. July 2009

Individual Supervisor: Ton Salman

Second Supervisor: Mattijs Van De Port

Cover: Image showing a Bolivian Wiphala indigenous flag. Source: from Boston.com


2/74

The Controversy of Decolonization of Education in Bolivia

1


Stakeholders perception ofthe decolonization of education and intra-cultural

education debates in contemporary Bolivia: an anthropological study.

Masters Thesis

Maja Waters Senneseth

Student no. 1804561

06. July, 2009

Supervisor: Ton Salman

Second Supervisor: Mattijs Van De PortSocial and Cultural Anthropology Vrije University Amsterdam Faculty of Social Science

All photos presented in this thesis are taken by the author unless stated otherwise.


3/74


2

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 4

Executive Summary 5Chapter 1:Introduction

1.1Bolivias education system at a crossroad 6

Chapter 2: Regional background and political situation

2.1 A very brief historical context 12

2.2 Demography 14

2.3 To the left 162.4 The educational system in Bolivia 17

2.5 Implementing intercultural education 21

2.6 The proposed bill 23

2.7 The importance of language 25

2.8 Political situation during my fieldwork 27

2.9 Conclusion 29

Chapter 3: Theoretical Framework 30

3. Bourdieu and the socio-economic reproduction of inequalities 31

3.2 Theoretical approaches to education 32

3.3 Multicultural, inter-cultural intra-cultural approaches- the problems of definition

and defending culture 36

3.4 Biases in education in other societies 37

3.5 Theoretical perspective 38

Chapter 4: Methodology

4.1 My first impressions 39

4.2 Research area and population 40

4.3 Research methods 42


4/74


3

4.4 Limitations 43

Chapter 5: Decolonization complication and application

5.1 Decolonization of education-looking back in order to predict the future? 44

5.2 Problems of defining decolonization 45

5.3 Resistance 47

5.4 Community participation and confusion? 48

5.5 Religion and the curriculum 50

5.6 Health aspects 51

5.7 Conclusion 52

Chapter 6: Identity, authenticity and intra-cultural education

6. 1 In search of a lost identity? 53

6.2 Authenticity and the formation of identity 54

6.3 Ongoing transformation- the challenge of equality in difference 56

6.4 The implementation of intra-cultural education today 59

6.5 Indigenous language as obligatory in education 60

6.6 Conclusion 62

Reflections and Final Conclusions 64

Bibliography 67

Appendix 1 71


5/74


4

Acknowledgement

I feel very lucky to have met so many wonderful people during my year in Amsterdam and my

fieldwork in Bolivia. I want to thank all of the people who contributed to this thesis- it could not

have been done without the knowledge, cooperation and support of my responsive interviewees.

I am grateful to all of you for making this an enjoyable and significant learning experience that

will not easily be forgotten. Although it is not possible to state them all I would like to recognize

some of them here: (the list is in no particular order):

Thank you to: Victor Hugo Quintanilla Coro, Lie Primitivo Mina, Guido Machaca,

Vincent Limiachi, Fernando Prado, Walter Guterrez Mena, Pedro Apala, Fernando Prado, FelixLpez Mamani, Melita Slel Corpio, Mara Luisa Talavera, Maria Tarque and Evangelio Muoz

Cardozo.

I am very grateful for my lovely family in La Paz and Cochabamba; for taking care of

me and for many interesting conversations. Their generosity and openness to tell me about their

lives has enriched not only my research but also me as a person.

I wish also to thank my talented Spanish teacher Vania Benavides, my wonderful

classmates and of course my friends and family in particularly I am grateful to my helpful

father and my great friend Melissa Wilson for their help with my English.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my grandmother for teaching me about

another Norway from the time when she grew up, for setting things in perspective and for

encouraging me throughout my education.

Last but definitely not least many thanks to my sympathetic supervisor Ton Salman, for

his intelligent insights and constructive comments, advices, corrections and suggestions. I am

very grateful for his willingness to share some of his insight and wisdom on my topic and for

introducing me to the fascinating country of Bolivia.


6/74


5

Executivesummary:This thesis is based on three months of fieldwork that was conducted in Bolivia - South

Americas poorest country and one of the worlds most unequal countries in terms of income,

consumption and human capital. With a majority of citizens of indigenous origin, Bolivia has a

one of the highest indigenous populations in Latin America. Although poverty is widespread in

the country, it is especially high among the indigenous population. No exception to global trends,

Bolivias indigenous people attain lower levels of education, suffer a greater incidence of

disease, and are subject to more discrimination than other groups in the society.

For a long time neo-liberal, market-oriented economic policies have been considered the

only path to development and the eradication of poverty. However, persistent inequality and poor

living conditions among the majority of the countrys population has led to strong political

opposition convinced that neo-liberalism was to blame for much of the countrys hardship.In 2006 Bolivias first indigenous president; Evo Morales came to power. He achieved

the largest margin of votes of any leader since the restoration of democracy in 1982. His partys

political message has been focused on the idea of decolonizing the state and integrating

indigenous cultural knowledge into government policies. A newly proposed educational bill,

called ley Avelino Siani y Elizardo Prez, embodies the idea of decolonization of education

through the use of intra-cultural education. This implies the integration of indigenous culture

into the curriculum and has raised much controversy.

This research poses the following question: How do the different stakeholders perceive

this bill, its justification and possible application? The findings presented here are based on

interviews with teachers, professors and policy-makers who were able to articulate informed

opinions about the bill, as well conversations with locals and reviews of local media messages

(from television and newspapers). Nobody seems to disagree on the opinion that the country

needs radical change but public opinion is strongly divided overhow these changes should take

place. While the idea behind the bill is viewed by many as a means of enabling disadvantaged

groups to participate in the running of society, critics say the concept of decolonization of

education could potentially increase racial tensions because of an over-emphasis on ethnicity.

At this stage it is unclear whether the bill - if implemented - will succeed in contributing to a

functioning, pluralistic society or a growing divide between indigenous and non-indigenous

communities in Bolivia.


7/74


6

Chapter1:Introduction1.1Bolivias education system at a crossroadStates must actively devise multicultural policies to prevent discrimination on cultural grounds

religious, ethnic and linguistic. The expansion of cultural freedoms, not suppressions, is the only

sustainable option to promote stability, democracy, and human development within and across

societies

Fukuda-Parr, 2004: 286.

Despite extraordinary economic growth, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting

poorer, a human development report has revealed (United Nations Development Programme,

UNDP, 2005). The same report further stressed that the world is more polarized now than ten

years ago; that the socio-economic gap continues to widen, and that gender, race and ethnicity

continue to play an important part in unequal economic and educational opportunities (ibid.).

Inequality is a worldwide problem. UN officials have warned nations that failure to address this

inequality predicament will insure that social injustice presides and better living conditions for

all people remain elusive, and that this will bring further violence and social instability in the

world for which everyone will have to pay the price (UN, 2005; citing Ocampo 1).

Measured by income, consumption and human capital, Bolivian inequality is among the

highest in Latin America and the world, slightly behind Brazil (Molina, 2005:4). While the

poverty rate is high in the region overall it is especially high among the indigenous population. It

is estimated that indigenous people have a greatly increased chance of being poor (World Bank,

2005). Moreover, there is a higher poverty rate among indigenous people all over the world,

including lower levels of education, and a greater incidence of disease and discrimination

compared to other groups in their societies (ibid.).

Education is widely recognized as an important means to combat poverty. Although the

gap is narrowing, indigenous people in Bolivia continue to have less education, and theireducational results are considerably lower than that of the non-indigenous population. This might

1 Jose Antonio Ocampo was UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs from 20032007. Hepresented the UN report The Inequality Predicament: Report on the World Social Situation 2005 together withJohan Schlvinck on 25 August 2005


8/74


7

indicate that there exist problems in the quality of the education provided (World Bank, 2005).

According to many indigenous spokespersons the problem is also in the content of the

curriculum. The education that is offered is culturally and linguistically unfamiliar for many of

the indigenous groups, and hence often found not to be socially or culturally relevant (Contreras

and Talavera, 2004). This explains part of the context which gave rise to the decolonization of

education debate. Before going deeper into this debate, it is important to elaborate a bit more on

the context of Bolivias turbulent history.

Despite the fact that Bolivia is rich in natural resources it remains the poorest country in

South America. A highly diverse country, Bolivia has a rich bio-diversity, and the largest

indigenous population of the Western Hemisphere, with approximately 62 percent of the

countrys residents, divided into 36 different indigenous groups (Drange, 2007:3). There are 33

official languages in Bolivia, of which Spanish is spoken by approximately 63.5 percent of the

population as their first language. Much of the population is bilingual: it is estimated that 87.4

percent of the population speak Spanish as their sole orsecond language (Assies and Salman,

2005:4, citing Vadillo, 1997:332). Although there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of

people speaking indigenous languages it is estimated that 20.8 percent speak Quechua, 13.6

percent Aymara and 0.6 percent speak Guaran as their first language (Howard, 2009:5).

Historically indigenous people have had very little political representation; but this is no

longer the case in Bolivia. Since 2006 the country has been lead by Juan Evo Morales Ayma,Bolivias first indigenous president. He won the presidential election in December 2005,

achieving 54 percent of the votes. In a recall vote in August 2008 he won 63 percent, making

him one of the most popular presidents in Bolivian history. Evo Morales is the leader of MAS

(Movement Towards Socialism) and a former coca-grower who has named Hugo Chavez and

Fidel Castro as his political idols. He has on several occasions articulated severe criticism against

the US (which he refers to as the Empire) and the IMF. Tensions peaked in September 2008

when Morales expelled the US ambassador accusing him of conspiring against democracy, by

cooperating with the opposition party. Less than a month later Morales also expelled the Drug

Enforcement Administration (DEA), accusing them of financing a coup dtat against the

government. Earlier that year he also expelled USAID accusing them of disguised aid aimed at

wielding political influence in the country and supporting the opposition.


9/74


8

One of the main critiques against the Morales government is precisely the fear that the

Bolivian economy is weakened by Morales severe criticism of the IMF and the US. The two

countries have had a history of cooperative relations that has been based on submission and

financial dependence on the Bolivian side. Moreover, his policies on land reclamations,

nationalization of mines and gas fields have lead to strong protest from formerly private owners.

Additionally, four of the countrys nine wealthiest departments requested autonomy in protest of

one the new draft constitution (see below) and there have been some fears of civil war erupting

(Shultz, 2007). In other words, the country is very much in a time of transformation, strongly

divided ethnically, socially and politically. This will be explored more in Chapter 2.

On 25th of January this year a new constitution was approved, allowing Morales to stand

for a further term in the coming election, December 2009. Winning support for the new

constitution by a relatively large margin (61 percent), MAS continues to have huge support in the

country expressed through support for the new constitution. The constitution marks a radical

change in Bolivian history and will grant several rights to the indigenous population through the

land advance emancipation legislation. Among other things, the new constitution puts emphasis

on traditional forms of local government in indigenous cultures where community participation

and justification play an important role.

In correlation with the 2007 United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous

people (UN, 2007)

which grants special collective rights to the indigenous people, the newconstitution explicitly guarantees collective rights to its indigenous population.2 A

supplementary question to the new constitution was whether landowners should be limited to

owning 10,000 or 5,000 hectares of land, to restrain the power of big landowners in the eastern

lowlands, some of whom gained their land illegally under the previous military government

(Economist, 2009). A clear majority (over 70 percent) voted on a limit of 5,000 hectares. With

one of the greatest wealth inequality gaps in the world, Bolivias new constitution aims to reduce

2 Although the idea of collective rights has received increasing attention and acceptance in many governmentalcircles, it has also been heavily debated. Colombia was one of the first countries that implemented these rights intheir constitution in 1991. One of the main concerns is that it gives rights to self-determination and evenautonomy. In a country like Bolivia where the majority is indigenous this is a major concern. Another criticismis that although collective rights are given providing they do not interfere with the basic human rights oftenthese rights collide.


10/74


9

this by nationalizing land areas of over 5,000 hectares. Perceived by the wealthiest individuals as

the stealing of property, the land reclamations have added to increasing racial tensions in the

country.3 The extremely powerful and influential opposition to Morales owns most of the

countrys media: only one of many television channels is governmental owned, and the first

governmental -owned newspaper was published this year.

The Morales government has challenged the notion that western values and culture is

superior, or that it possesses a monopoly on the correct form of knowledge and truth. The

country is in an era of social and political transformation moving towards what many call

socialism with the aim to reduce inequality within the society. On the other hand, others

perceive the changes as dangerously over-emphasizing the indigenization of the countrys

political structures. They fear that his focus on the indigenous population ignores the increasing

urban population of Bolivia the mestizos, who have mixed Indian and European descent and

culture. Another concern from the opposition is that Morales socialist and anti-globalization

articulation against the US will lead the country to economic crisis, isolating Bolivia from the

benefits of globalization. The recent changes are indeed quite revolutionary questioning the

elite minoritys power and privileges.

The elite minority is often portrayed in the political frame as blanco-mestizo, illustrating

that an ethnic line of political reasoning has emerged. The Morales governments aim of

decolonizing the Bolivian society highlights this. A main strategy for achieving this goal is bytargeting the Bolivian educational system. In the governmental discourses, decolonization is

used as one of the terms that best express the wish to overcome a history of indigenous

submission.

Soon after Morales came to power his government started the work of promoting a new

educational bill, with the slogan of decolonization of education. In June 2006 the proposed

bill named: Ante-projecto de ley Avelino Siani y Elizardo Prez was presented.

In it the term decolonization of education refers to the indigenous peoples self-determination

process and the need to recover and re-establish their cultural roots and develop on their own

terms. This is done through the decolonization of land and territory, education, development of

a national cultural consciousness and the recovery and revitalization of ancestral cults as the

3 There have been several racial incidents in Santa-Cruz, Pando and Sucre (see appendix,) They were all attacks onthe indigenous population.


11/74


10

great axis from which this process should begin. It identifies traditional Indian customs as its

fundamental pillar. Intra-cultural education is a tool to give the idea of decolonization of

education a central position in the curriculum.

Intra-cultural means, as the term implies to look inwards into their own culture;

restore faith in it, revive it and implement this cultural knowledge and language into a new, equal

interculturality and, obviously, also within the new curriculum. The bill is likely to be put into

action in January 2010 if MAS is re-elected in December 2009. In seeking a deeper

understanding of the debate over the decolonization of education I was lead to formulate the

following research question:

In Bolivia, a new proposed educational bill, which embodies the idea of decolonization

of education and intra-cultural education has raised controversy. How do the different

stakeholders perceive the bill, its justification and possible application?

In order to explore this central question, I have formulated five sub-questions:

What does decolonization of education mean? What does intra-cultural education imply? What does the bill Avelino Siani y Elizardo Prez aim at concretely? What are the different stakeholders viewpoints on these issues? Why do they support or oppose the idea behind this bill and what social memories and

viewpoints motivate them to make their decisions?

One of the main arguments for the proposed bill is to eliminate discrimination and racism which

is still very present in todays Bolivia. Ironically much of the criticism against the idea of

decolonization is based on the fear that the Bolivian society will become even more ethnically

polarized. Either way, the concepts of decolonization and Intra-cultural education are strongly

interconnectedand are inspired by the wish to overcome the inequalities that Bolivia, as a former

colony still has; a colonial mindset that has, according to indigenous spokespersons, persisted

after the countrys independence.The unequal distribution of social-economic wealth reflects the

reality that ethnic divisions are central in the decolonization of education debate.


12/74


11

Education has broadly been recognized as empowering, as a mean to defeat poverty and

as positive development, both by the United Nations and Bolivia.4 In fact Bolivia allocates 23

percent of its annual budget to education, a proportion considerably higher than most other South

American countries, albeit from a nominally smaller national budget (Contreras and Talavera,

2003). The literacy rate has also significantly improved during the last decade and Bolivia now

has a large percentage of children completing primary school education. Nonetheless, the quality

in rural areas remains subordinate and the number of school drop-outs is higher among the

indigenous population (Unicef, 2004). Could the idea of the decolonization of education

together with the implementation of intra-cultural education in the curriculum become a means

to change this reproduction of inequality?

1.2 Structure of the thesis

Before elaborating on the different stakeholders views on the current debate of intra-cultural

education and the decolonization request in the Bolivian educational system, it is crucial to

provide further background information about Bolivia as a country and its educational system.

This will be done in the in the regional chapter 2. Some theoretical approaches towards education

and the reproduction of inequality will be presented in chapter 3 followed by the methodology in

chapter 4. Chapter number 5 and 6 will focus on the idea behind decolonization of education

and on identity and intra-cultural educational debates respectively. In the last chapter Iconclude this thesis by outlining the findings and the respond to the research question.

4 Bolivia became a member of the UN 13 of November, 1946 and holds 1 UNESCO chair.


13/74


12

2. Regional background and political situation

This chapter provides a short regional and demographic background of Bolivia as well as a brief

explanation of the political situation in the country. To set the context of my fieldwork, I also

give an overview of the former educational system in Bolivia, the proposed bill, and the reasons

and ideas behind it. Some empirical illustrations from my fieldwork are also included.

Figure 1. Continental, regional, country level maps of Bolivia

Source: Gosouthamerica.com and the CIA World Factbook

2.1 A very brief historical context

The land area which is now Bolivia used to be a part of the kingdom of the Incas, before it was

colonized by the Spanish in 1532. As in all other Latin American countries the indigenous people

in Bolivia suffered much at the hands of often brutal colonizers, and many died from diseases

that were brought into the country. Discrimination was so severe that in 1537 when the Pope

tried to convince the Spaniards that the indigenous people had souls he met strong resistance

(Helgesen, 2008). Named after the independence fighter Simon Bolvar, Bolivia achieved

independence from Spanish rule in 1825. It is sometimes referred to as the country of a

thousand coups as it has experienced nearly 200 coups throughout its history (Poestro, 2007:6).


14/74


13

Bolivias national revolution took place in 1952 and has been described as one of the

quietest revolutions in Latin America. Led by the MNR5 (Moviemento Nacionalistica

Revolucionario), mineworkers and peasants defeated the army; mines were nationalized and for

the first time indigenous people gained full citizenship (Hudson et.al 1989). The MNR stayed in

power for twelve years under various leaders, during which time they restructured the primary

educational system to include the rural villages as well. Nevertheless, the party was unable to

greatly improve the standard of living even with support from the United States. From 1964 the

country was led by military dictatorship (also supported by the United States), until democracy

was implemented in 1982. The congress elected the left-wing leader of MIR (Revolutionary

leftwing movement) Hernan Siles Zuazo, who proved to be a disaster for the country, resulting in

an hyper-inflation that in 1985 reached 8,170 percent annually (Klein, 2003:241).The following

period of fragile democracy saw numerous presidents come and go, some of them more capable

in running the country than others.

Although Bolivias history has been marked by social and political inequality and

tensions, the country stands out in contrast to other similar countries in Latin-American in the

1970-80s, like Guatemala, Peru, El Salvador and Nicaragua, for its absence of large-scale social

and political violence, civil war or ethnocide - even despite the enormous ethnic inequality

distribution (Molina, 2005:3).

Bolivia had close ties to the United States (US) and the International Monetary Fund(IMF) to a point of it being named as a charity darling, receiving millions of dollars annually.

The two countries relationship has been based on obedience from Bolivias side. Even though

the US has played an important part in many development projects, it has also benefitted from

access to Bolivias natural resources at very low prices and as such has been heavily criticized

for its role in Bolivian politics.

In 1993 the neo-liberal influenced president Gonzalo Snchez de Lozada took power and

Victor Hugo Cardenas, an Aymara intellectual leader of Katarismo - an indigenous political

movement - was appointed as vice-minister to the surprise of many. This marriage between the

government and an indigenous leader functioned to create better confidence in the government,

among the indigenous population, but weakened the already declining Katarismo movement as

the many of its members saw the marriage as a betrayal.

5 The MNR used to be a socialistic party but today it is a political party associated with neo-liberalism.


15/74


14

As a result of the old governments strong ties to the US, eradication of coca-plantations

as part of the US war on drugs became a priority, and enormous areas of coca were destroyed,

while little was offered as compensation to the farmers, who now had nothing. A neo-liberal

economic model dominated in the nineties, with a market-orientated economy largely viewed as

the only alternative for development and the eradication of poverty. Even though massive

amounts of aid money were sent to the country, the enormous gap in inequality persisted,

indigenous people remained poor and in some places the poverty rate even increased. The

quotation below from UN development report from 2005 sums up what Bolivian history

illustrates:

Focusing exclusively on economic growth and income generation as a development strategy is

perilous as it leads to the accumulation of wealth by a few and deepens the poverty of many.

(UN 2005)

This brief look into Bolivias history is provided so we can comprehend the context in which a

former coca-grower and leader could win the highest percentage of votes since the re-

introduction of civilian rule in 1982. The persistent inequality and the poor living conditions for

the majority of the countrys population led an opposition convinced that neo-liberalism was to

blame for Bolivian hardship (Assies and Salman, 2005:269).

Evo Morales political message has been directed towards the need to decolonize the

state and the restoration of the indigenous peoples knowledge. The governments language ofdecolonization, anti-racism, anti-globalism and anti-neo-liberalism must be seen in the context

of Bolivias turbulent history. The current government came to power due to the vast

mobilization of a people who rejected everything the [previous] government stood for (ibid.).

2.2 Demography

Located in the center of South America, Bolivia is a nation of enormous diversity. Rich in

culture and natural resources, its territories include some of the world's coldest, warmest, andwindiest climates. It also contains some the driest, saltiest and swampiest natural landscapes in

the world. A landlocked country, Bolivia shares boarders with Paraguay and Argentina to the

south, Chile and Peru to the west and Brazil to the north and east. In contrast to its neighboring

countries, the majority of the population is of indigenous decent. The country is divided into nine


16/74


15

regions, or departamentos (the departmental capitals are in parentheses): Beni (Trinidad),

Chuquisaca (Sucre), Cochabamba (Cochabamba), La Paz (La Paz), Oruro (Oruro), Pando

(Cobija), Potosi (Potosi), Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz de la Sierra), and Tarija (Tarija). Although

located in the tropical zone, due to the countrys many mountainous regions temperatures vary

significantly. The Altiplano (Spanish for high plain) has an average altitude of 3,600 meters

and includes the regions of La Paz, Oruro and Potosi. These areas contain around half of the

countrys population and are where the majority of the indigenous population lives, most of them

belonging to the two largest indigenous groups: Quechua and Aymara. The deep forest of the

Amazon is sparsely populated, with mostly indigenous minority groups, while the lowland areas

and regions of Tarija, Santa Cruz, Beni and Pando have majority populations of non-indigenous

decent. In 2001, 62 percent of the total population (about 9.5 million) declared themselves as

belonging to one of 36 indigenous groups, of which the Quechua, Aymara and Guarani are the

largest (Drange, 2007)6.

There are 33 different languages spoken of which all have recently become

acknowledged as national languages of Bolivia7. According to a national population census from

2001 it was estimated that 63.5 percent spoke Spanish as their first language, 20.8 percent spoke

Quechua, 13.6 % Aymara and 0.6 % spoke Guarani (Howard, 2009). This indicates that the use

of an indigenous language is not a basis for self-identification as indigenous (Nucinkis, 2006: 29,

Molina and Alb, 2006 in Howard, 2009:5).Bolivia is rich in natural resources. Tin, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron,

lead, gold, timber, and the recently discovered natural gas, are all part of the natural resources the

country possesses (CIA World Factbook 2009). Despite this, Bolivia is South Americas poorest

country and in comparison with other developing countries it is at the lower end of the scale in

terms of life expectancy (64 for men and 67 for women; World Health Organization, WHO,

2006). Furthermore, it is estimated that nearly 60 percent of Bolivias population lives in

poverty, and almost 40 percent lives in extreme poverty, almost all of whom are indigenous

(World Bank, 2006). Bolivia also has one of the continents most unequal distributions of

6 The numbers vary greatly, depending on what kind of question is being asked. People are more likely to identifythemselves as belonging to an indigenous group such as Aymara or Quechua even if they do not identifythemselves as indigenous per se (Drange, 2007: 2, quoting Canessa: 2006)

7 In 2006 the Morales government dubbed the country the Pluricultural Nation of Bolivia declaring all indigenouslanguages as well as Spanish as official languages.


17/74


16

wealth, with 10 percent of the population obtaining over 40 percent of the total income, which

illustrates the fact that the majority of the population has not had access to enough opportunities

to improve their quality of life (ibid.).

2.3 To the left

In the region of Latin America there has been an increasing wave of left-wing governments

aiming to create social-democratic societies, and working towards evening out part of the

enormous gap between rich and poor. After the election in December 2005, Bolivia became one

of them, electing the former leader of the coca farmers union, an indigenous Aymara, Evo

Morales to lead the country. He achieved the largest margin of votes of any leader since the

restoration of democracy in 1982 (CIA World Factbook, 2009) and in January 2006 he became

Bolivias first indigenous president. Morales is the leader ofMAS - the movement towards

socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo) and won the election on the promise of fundamental

socialist change by empowering the nations poor indigenous majority (ibid.).

Hopefully capable of redistributing the wealth of the country more evenly, Morales has

been admired by many indigenous people but viewed with great skepticism by others, in

particular the Bolivian elite and the US, in addition to an increasing portion of the countrys

middleclass. The last three years under Morales have been relatively stable, although there have

been quite a few riots, mainly between opposition groups and Morales supporters. There havebeen requests for autonomy in some of the resource-rich regions opposing Morales and the

opposition has expressed great concern that his radical approaches might isolate Bolivia and

harm the economy. Both Human Right Watch and Amnesty have also expressed concern over

occasional inter-ethnic conflicts, however, they have stated in their reports that discrimination

and racism towards the indigenous population has been the underlying factor behind tensions.

The situation is somewhat blurred. As most of the newspapers and television channels are

owned by the opposition, much of the information given by the media is extremely biased. On

the other hand, the Bolivian government has a long history of corruption and inefficient

administration. There is little proof that this situation has radically changed with the Morales

government, and according to the US Government his policies have exacerbated racial and

economic tensions between Amerindians in the Andean west and non-indigenous communities

in the eastern lowlands (CIA World Factbook 2009), which is a view also argued by the


18/74


17

opposition to Morales in Bolivia. This highlights the fact that contemporary Bolivia continues to

be a divided and vulnerable state.

2.4 The Educational system in Bolivia

Despite the fact that education was declared to be mandatory and free in 1880 (Taylor, 2004: 7)

education in Bolivia has been modest and very unevenly distributed. In the colonial era

structured education was limited to the elite families and even though the call for compulsory

primary educational system increased after independence, little was accomplished (Contreras and

Talavera, 2003).The educational system has had three major educational reforms, in 1905, 1955

(as a result of the national revolution in which it was promoted) and in 1994.

In 1905 Bolivia introduced a centralization of education policy and the government

provided teachers in the rural areas, but funding was limited, the rural areas were difficult to

access due to poor infrastructure, and the teachers had to divide their time between the villages,

resulting in limited time in each village (Taylor, 2004).Little real educational opportunity was

provided, and especially in the rural areas little progress was made (Contreras and Talavera,

2003).

After the national revolution in 1952 the Bolivian school system was subject to a strong

assimilation policy. Through the assimilation process many indigenous people felt ashamed of

their own knowledge and belief-systems that differed from the norm and which were treated asthe wrong kind of knowledge. It is interesting to note that indigenous communities themselves

were the main driving force behind the rapid spread of schools in rural areas during the early

twentieth century (Brienen, 2002). After the law of centralized education in 1905 the schools

implemented a linguistic and cultural policy of castellanization 8 that sought to civilize the

indigenous population(Taylor, 2004:8). One of the few exceptions to this trend was the escuela-

ayllu, a pilot school project tolerated for a few years by the government and attempting to design

a school that would fit the indigenousrealities.

This brings us to the currently debated bill, Avelino Siani y Elizardo Prez. It is named

after two teachers that started the famous escuela-ayllu of Warisata (an indigenous community

8 The teaching of Spanish (Castellano) was often considered synonymous with literacy training, hence the termCastillanization (Lopez, 2002 in Taylor, 2004:8). The term implies cultural and linguistic assimilation.


19/74


18

school)9. According to Andean indigenous beliefs, it is important to look back in order to project

oneself in the future. Hence, the name of the bill is no coincidence. The school was founded in

Warisata in 1931 and created a curriculum which was especially intended to improve the living

conditions of the indigenous people by providing them with education especially geared towards

the need of indigenous people in the Bolivian highlands (Brienen, 2002). It was based on the

roots of pre-Incan socio-political construction of which included not only teachers and students

but also parental and community participation.

Later on the curriculum from the Warisata School was adapted to many of the lowland

regions as well (ibid). The curriculum taught parents and children their rights and duties of

citizenship. Hence, the school contributed greatly to the construction of a coherent Bolivian

national feeling which included the indigenous population (ibid.). In 1940 the school was closed

down as the government did not want to allow the development of local authority. Especially not

since the school clashed with the cultural assimilation policy of the government (Contreras, 1999

in Taylor, 2004). The escella-ayllu represented in many ways an early form for intra-cultural

education as it emphasized indigenous cultures and leadership structures (Taylor, 2004:8). Its

basic concept has been recognized as a possible solution for educational and cultural problems in

todays Bolivia. By carrying the name of the two teachers that started the school the bill implies

the importance of intra-cultural education. This will be elaborated further in sub-chapter 2.7

regarding the proposed bill.In 1937 the Ministry of Education also became the Ministry of Indigenous affairs. With

this move, Brienen points out; the Ministry became responsible for the development and the

implementation of legislation to protect the indigenous communities (Brienen, 2003:200). At

that time many Indians were being forced to cultivate land for the landowners and to provide

other unpaid/underpaid services such as pongueaje (unpaid domestic work). Moreover, until

the national revolution in 1952 the indigenous people were highly regulated: they were forbidden

to wear traditional outfits and speak their traditional languages in public (Drange, 2007).

Even thought the literacy rate was especially low for the indigenous people, it was also

low throughout the country. It is estimated that less than one third of the adult population were

literate before the National Revolution, despite the governments attempt to defeat illiteracy by

requiring people who were literate to teach at least one other person how to read and write

9Ayllu means political unity and originates from pre-Incan and Incan periods.


20/74


19

(Hudson and Hanratten, 1989). After the National Revolution a new educational reform

pronounced that school should be free for every child. This inevitably meant that three times as

many children attended school. The new obligatory educational law required huge resources and

even though the national budget spent on education increased and indigenous teachers were

being employed the drop-out rate remained high, especially in rural areas among indigenous

people. All education was in Spanish and children were beaten when they spoke in their native

language (Luykx, 1999:47-48).

In 1976 literacy levels increased to an estimated 76 percent (Contreras and Talavera,

2004:66). Nevertheless, the high number of school drop-outs, the poor educational level and

clear divide between the non-indigenous and the indigenous population continues despite more

focus on the educational situation. In fact, Bolivia uses 23 percent of its national budget on

education, which is more than most other South American countries, (albeit from a smaller

national budget; ibid).

In 1983 the World Bank summarized the tragic state of education in Bolivia as follows:

Despite sizeable budgetary allocations to education, no significant improvements in

access and quality have occurred. Some of the reasons for the low productivity of

expenditures have been the following:

Until recently, two subsystems, one for rural and one for urban education existed sideby sideboth with heavily over-centralized, inefficient administrations in La Paz.

Dropout and repeat rates are high because children are taught in Spanish and nottheir native language. They are often malnourished and cannot walk the long

distances to get to school, as well as being taught in an irrelevant and overly

academic curriculum which bears little relation to future employment.

Most of the expenditures go to salaries of untrained teachers. Few funds areavailable

for expansion of the system and quality improvements such as distribution of learning

materials or teacher supervision (In Contreras and Talavera, 2003:39).

These are, as previously stressed, challenges which still persist although the Bolivian educational

system has achieved magnificent improvements the last decade. Table 1 shows a lists of

development indicators for Bolivia that illustrate what progresses has been made regarding

literacy rates and the literacy gap between rural and urban areas. In Bolivia uneven distribution

and poor quality of social services - particularly health and education - have disproportionately

affected indigenous and rural populations (World Bank, 2005).


21/74


20

Table 1. World Development Indicators for Bolivia

Country indicators 1995 2000 2005 2007Population (Million) 7.5 8.3 9.2 9.5Rural population (% of total population) 40.6 38.2 35.8

Atlas GNI per capita (US$) 860 1000 1020 1260Poverty incidence (%) 66.9 59.6 Extreme poverty incidence (%) 42.8 36.7 Inequality (GINI coefficient) ... 62.6 60.4

GDP growth (%) 4.7 2.5 4.4 4.6Inflation (%) 12.6 3.4 4.9 11.7Overall fiscal balance (% of GDP) -1.8 -3.7 -2.3 1.7Total public sector debt (% of GDP) 74.7 59.5 75.1 43.8External public sector debt (%of GDP) 71.4 47.1 51.9 16.4

External current account balance (% of GDP) -4.5 -5.3 6.5 13.4Total good exports (US$ million) 1041.5 1246.1 2791.1 4485.2Foreign direct investment (US$ million) 372.3 733.9 -290.8 163.6

Net primary enrollment 95.0 95.0 04 95.0 06School attendance rate (6 and 18 years) 82 90 Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) 75 94 67 98 53 03 Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births) 116 94 92 98 70 03 Maternal mortality (per 100,000 live births) 390 98 230 03Stunting (% of children under 5) 26.8 94 26.8 98 26.7 03

Source: Central Bank of Bolivia, OMS-Global database on child health, Bank estimates based on official surveysand World Development Indicators.

We see from this the above data that enormous challenges remain, but also that great progress

has been made. For example, the maternal mortality rate has decreased dramatically within the

last 5 years as have the mortality rates for infants and children under five. The amount of

children attending school has also increased from 82 percent to 90 percent. It is also worth noting

the decreased population in rural areas. In 1976 it was estimated that 68 percent of the population

lived in rural areas (Molina, 2005:16), yet by 2005 only 8 percent of the population was living inthe rural areas, and rural populations continue to decrease (World Bank, 2009).

Increased focus on health and education since the 1990s has improved the situation, but

poor infrastructure in Bolivia still makes it difficult to access the many rural villages and to build

schools and hospitals the citizens can access. Rural areas have always had less access to social

services and in general the poverty is higher, education lower, and overall life expectancy is


22/74


21

lower in the rural areas. Improvements in health and educational sector are partly due to the

increased urbanization (Molina, 2005:29).

Today Bolivia has an estimated 90 percent literacy level. However, there is reason to

believe that functional literacy remains high in many of the rural areas of the country (CIA

World Factbook 2009). Like many developing countries, contemporary Bolivia has a high level

of children attending primary school, yet the overall quality of teaching is low, drop-out rates

remain high and the percentage of children (especially from rural areas of the country) who go

on to higher education is remarkably low (Alan and Thomas, 2001). Although public education

is free, it costs money for parents to send their children to school. They have to buy books and

school uniforms are compulsory. Sending the children to school also means that children cannot

help with work at home or on the farm etc. These are all challenges that many developing

countries are facing and that the Bolivian government is trying to overcome. In the proposed bill

education will be free and compulsory to grade twelve and the government will provide financial

support to families who need it (Gutirrez, interviewed in La Paz, 22.03 2009).

The Morales government has been working to implement a socialist educational system.

In line with the educational system in Cuba the government wanted to make all schools and

universities public. The suggestion to close private schools was met with enormous protest in the

various cities of Bolivia, leading the government to drop the plan of making all schools public.

There are great quality differences between the education in rural and urban areas and not leastbetween the private, NGO-supported and public schools. There are hardly any private schools in

the rural areas of the country but there are several NGOs that runs schools in rural areas and

these are generally better and have more resources than the schools run by the government.

2.5 Implementing Intercultural Education

In 1994 the Law of Educational Reform was introduced that promoted an intercultural

Bilingual Education (referred to as LRE). This reform represented a radical legislation thatopened up the opportunity for indigenous people to receive education in their native language.

Bolivia became the first country in Latin America to make intercultural education the policy of

the state and it was widely considered revolutionary as it was supposed to strengthen each

culture and the exchanged between cultures (Alb et.al, 2004: 14). It is a law that intended to put

a strong focus both upon bilingualism and intercultural education. Evaluations have shown the


23/74


22

LRE has had positive effects on "interculturality" in the sense that indigenous pupils have

improved their mother tongue, they participate and appreciate their own culture, and they have

improved their self-esteem" (Drange, 2007: 1). In the rural areas the system has also achieved

positive results on children's learning abilities and self-esteem (Alb et.al, 2003).

The LRE was aimed at rural areas and the bilingual approach was targeted at primary

schools. Under the reform LRE expanded to 1,074 schools in 1997 and to 2,899 by 2002,

counting for approximately 22 percent of the total primary sector (Howard, 2009: 3 citing

Nucinkis, 2006: 27).The new law was received with great skepticism from the teachers union as

it required the teachers to educate bilingually - although many of the teachers could not speak the

indigenous language and did not necessarily identify with the culture of the communities whom

they were assigned to serve. Another severe critique of the reform was that little or no new

educational material from an intercultural approach existed. The teachers were also given little

training on how to teach in a bilingual and intercultural manner.

Amalie Anaya, Chief of the Ministry of Education at the time when the law became

implemented, has explained that one of the reasons behind its difficulty of application was that

the reform was applied on a massive scale, instead of introducing it gradually starting in areas

where it would have been easy applicable . Between 1995 and 1996 the reform was very widely

applied. This led to total disorder, as we tried to go beyond the limits of what was possible

(Howard, 2009:3-4 referring to Archondo, 1994:44 citing Anaya).Many indigenous intellectuals also questioned the intention of the law since it was

implemented under the neo-liberal government of Gonzalo Snchez de Lozada. They saw the

LRE as part of a neo-liberal market policy, and potentially dangerous as the educational program

could be used for research to achieve crucial information from the indigenous communities, that

again could be used for exploration and privatization of land (Drange, 2007).

Perhaps more surprisingly - the reform was widely rejected by many of the indigenous

parents who viewed the new law as a step backwards. Since Spanish was the only language

needed to enter the job sector, they viewed Spanish as the key to success. They were concerned

that the new law could be the neo-liberal governmentsway of preventing the indigenous

population from entering the city and progressing economically and politically. It became clear

that the very people the reform was supposedly made to facilitate actually rejected it.


24/74


23

2.6 The Proposed Bill

The ley Avelino Siani y Elizardo Prez is a proposed bill which was introduced by the Morales

government soon after it came to power:

It is a bill built on the Por Una Education Indigena Originaria study10, also known asel libro verde or the green book, which was created in 2004 by ten indigenousorganizations. The project was built on ideological proposals by indigenous sectors

concerning intercultural education and decolonization over the past 20 years (Machacha,interviewed in Cochabamba, 06.02.09).

In June 2006, 21 different indigenous organizations and institutions came together under the lead

of Felix Patzi11 who was the chief of the Ministry of Education at that time and played a crucial

role in the creation of the bill. They agreed on the proposal of the bill Avelino Siani y Elizardo

Prez. The bill has not yet been applied and there exists an ongoing controversy about whether

or not an intra-cultural policy, which the law promotes, should be included in the education-

system or not. There is no lack of ambition in the proposed bill, among other things it states that

the Educational Law Project:

- is universal, unique, and diverse, because it offers high quality, and is culturally and

linguistically relevant in all the regions of the country. Unique in quality, diverse in

application, and corresponds to every context.

- is decolonizing, liberating, revolutionary, transformational, and anti-imperialist to

economic, social, cultural, political, and ideological structures, oriented towards

autonomy, and the re-affirmation of indigenous peoples, Afro-Bolivians and of the entire

Bolivian nation.

- is intra-cultural, inter-cultural, and multi-lingual because it articulates a stateeducation system based on achieving potential and development through wisdom, mother

10 For an indigenous education.11 Patzi became a controversial figure in the Morales government, not least for his strong critique of the Catholic

Church. After one year as the chief of Ministry of Education he was replaced, however, the text of the draft lawwhich he helped design still stands (Howard, 2009: 8)


25/74


24

language of indigenous nations, where they interrelate; coexist with equal opportunities,

with mutual respect between cultures of the country and the world.

The new bill takes the idea of bilingual education a step further: it seeks to implement bilingual

education not only in the primary schools in rural areas but extends it to urban areas and includes

secondary school and also at university level. By this implementation the indigenous languages

will become far more significant and more applicable in daily life. Some elements of the plan to

increase the importance of the indigenous languages have already been applied - for example in

order to work in the government one has to speak an indigenous language as well as Spanish.

The bill underscores the importance of conserving the countrys enormous cultural

diversity. It stresses that intercultural education is more than bilingual education and it puts

emphasis on the values of indigenous communities, such as solidarity, collective work for the

community - values that are challenged by a neo-liberal and capitalist principles of individualism

and privatization. One point that rose great criticism in the media against the proposal was the

statement that Catholicism should no longer be the only official religion. This will be explicated

a bit further in chapter 5.5.

Referring to a Bolivia for all the bill also puts an emphasis on gender equality. It must

be noted that despite this the Morales government has been criticized for using political rhetoric

without focusing enough on the implications in reality. The bill has also been criticized for notbeing much different from the educational law of 1994, except for its change in emphasis on

language learning. This will be explored further in the chapter 6 discussing intra-cultural

education and identity. For more information on the bill please see Appendix one.


26/74


25

2.7 The importance of language

In our language exists a peoples way of thinking

Victor Hugo Coro, Interviewed in La Paz, 02.02. 09

The above quotation draws attention to the importance of language. With the proposed

educational bill the government wants to put a stronger focus on language, promoting a bilingual

and even trilingual education. There is general consensus over the importance of learning to read

and write in ones native language before learning a second language (i.e. Spanish). The outcome

of much research has shown a clear connection between the level of literacy and whether or not

the child starts to learn in his/her own native language and how this impacts learning ability. Aswe have seen this was one of the World Banks main criticisms and rationale for why Bolivian

education remained poor in the rural areas. Although the teaching of bilingual education should

hypothetically be implemented in primary schools in rural areas, the law has been criticized for

being far from fully implemented. There are still many rural primary schools where the children

are only taught in Spanish. This finding backs up other research that shows how even in rural

areas where the majority of people speak Aymara or Quechua bilingual education has not been

fully implemented (see Contreras and Talavera, 2004, Alb, 2004). My own experience in the

field also suggests that there are many areas where this law is not fully implemented. For this

reason, it might be right to question the governments aim of a trilingual education. Would it not

be better to fully implement the previous one first?

As we have seen, historically the Bolivian state has been weak, and there are many laws

that are not fully implemented (for example, children under 14 years old still work in the mines

even though this is officially forbidden under Bolivian law). On the other hand, it is crucial to

have a goal to reach after. Perhaps while the hope of achieving a trilingual education is too

ambiguous in most of the rural (and urban) areas of Bolivia; it is possible in the richer, urban

areas and in private schools. A trilingual educational aim might mean a change for those students

who otherwise would be bilingual; the majority of the students being blanco-mestizo would learn

an indigenous language as well. After all - these are the people with the most potential to learn a

third language due to their increased resources. Additionally - learning an indigenous language


27/74


26

would give blanco-mestizos insight into indigenous cultures and potentially improve intercultural

understanding.

Fernando Prado, an anthropology Professor in Cochabamba stresses that the Aymara and

Quechua are in a greater and stronger position to preserve their culture and introduce it into the

curriculum because they have many intellectuals, and highly educated people who are politically

active. This is of course present in the other groups as well, but they are in fewer numbers and

the number of people who have a higher education is lower. Hence, the bill will be challenging

to implement, especially in areas where there are a lack of professors from their own culture.

Prado himself has been working as a teacher for many years in the Amazonas stressing that it is

very difficult to implement a law of bilingual education since it is not only a problem of finding

skilled teachers but also books in native indigenous languages.


28/74


27

2.8 Political situation during my fieldwork:

Photograph 1 and 2 These picture are taken in La Paz before the election of the New consitution

and shows the massive support Morales has in the altioplano.

Several demonstrations took place in Bolivia during my field work. Although the use of

fireworks and dynamite (a tradition among miners) often made the atmosphere uncomfortable,they were for the most part peaceful demonstrations.


29/74


28

The first month of my field work was spent in La Paz. On the 25 of January 2009 an important

referendum took place. It was the referendum on the Nueva ley, a new constitution which

included 411 articles. It is important to stress that the many policy changes under Morales have

not come from nowhere, but are the outcome of a gradually evolving juncture that represents an

ideological and ethnic shift in government policy due to the countrys history of political

instability (Howard, 2009).

The constitution is a result of years of struggle between, among others, many social

movements. The quest for a democratically constructed new constitution started to take shape in

the early 1990s and has been central to most of the political and social conflicts since 2000

(Helgesen, 2009). As soon as Evo Morales became president in 2006 his government started the

work of creating a new constitution. However, a main criticism against the process has been over

a lack of transparency. Critics argue that the number of people who really understand the full

implications of the constitution is low and that the referendum would revolve around whether

people were Morales supporters or not. Hence, a polarization has taken place that is not desirable

for a country already deeply divided. Another major criticism is that the implementation of the

constitution requires a lot of funding that would be difficult to achieve in practice.

The Morales government gained 61 percent of the votes on the referendum. The

opposition was speculating that there was much corruption along with rumors and public

speculation of fraud. Yet, the international community, which was present during the election,concluded that the referendum was legal and fair. Accusations of fraud were made by media

owned by the opposition. It is interesting to note that only one of Bolivias many television

channels financed by the government and the majority of the newspapers are owned by the

opposition. This gives an excellent indicator of how strongly Evo Morales power is despite great

influence and competition by the opposition parties and media. There exists great variation in the

support for Morales from region to region. While he has strong support in the Altiplano, in the

lowlands the opposition is strong. For example: the election revealed that the departamento of La

Paz was hugely in support of the constitution, a remarkable 78 percent voted for the law,

whereas in Santa Cruz the no side achieved a 65 percent rate and in the deprtamento of Beni

70 percent of the voters voted against the constitution.

During the recall referendum, which was held in August 2008 Morales won with more

than 63 percent of the votes, proving that he had even gained support since his election in


30/74


29

December 2005. Many of the people I spoke to were very hopeful, and supported the president

during his successful presidential election in the December 2005- as he represented a needed and

important change. However, during his three years of government they have grown more

skeptical regarding his ability to create a better society. Many people feel that the increased focus

on indigenous people rights and implementation of positive discrimination in particular job-

sections is dividing people. Unemployment rate is high and receiving employment can be a

struggle regardless of which ethnic group one belongs to.

My Bolivian family stressed that the government is focusing too much on indigenous

identity instead of a common Bolivian identity (Luis, 2009). Luis, a mestizo social-worker, was

skeptical towards the governments emphasis on the indigenous as he felt it excluded other types

of identity. It is too focused upon indigenization We are not all indigenous (ibid.). He has an

important point that is difficult to overlook. Since the Bolivian nation has been known as a weak

state due to its incapability of creating a strong national identity, or imagined community as

Benedict Anderson has put it, one of the main challenges seems to be how to combine such a

strong emphasis upon the indigenous identity with the slogan: Bolivia para todos! (Boliva for

all).

2.9 Conclusion

We have seen that Bolivia is currently going through a period of conflict caused by socio-

economic inequalities between rural indigenous and urban blanco-mestizo standards of living.

The current government was elected under the banner of reducing inequality, however there

undoubtedly still exists a gap between political rhetoric and political reality, as is illustrated by

demonstrations across the country. It is in this context that the current debate on the

decolonization of education and intra-cultural education takes place. This will be elaborated on

further in the next two chapters. Positive discrimination based on gender or ethnic

background requires an implementation that is essentially based on an exclusive system. It is a

nations responsibility to administer this challenge, making sure that as much as it can do so that

social reproduction of inequalities in life is reduced providing its citizens with equal

opportunities. This is done in many European countries with gender quotations as well and

even though salary gaps persist the equality progresses made would not have been possible with


31/74


30

ought these kind of positive discrimination, at least not in a relative short period of time.

Discrimination based in ethnicity continues to take place in Bolivia, and there is a need

to implement positive discrimination to ensure a reduction in inequality treatments. Then it is up

to the current government to implement this without stepping in the trap and excluding the

non-indigenous people who utterly are a part of Bolivias cultural diversity and plural-national

state.

3. Theoretical framework

Some theoretical approaches towards how education can be used as suppression and function as

a means to reproduce inequality will be presented.

Katarismo, an intellectual, indigenous political group that was formed in the 1970s

played a central role in the formation of a collective indigenous identity, which later influenced

ideas of a more indigenous- friendly educational-system.

Paulo Freires perspective on education as being potentially suppressive- also had great

impact on the intellectual indigenous movement in Bolivia as well as other parts of Latin

America. These approaches towards education and self-determination will be briefly presented as

they provide an important background which explains why the decolonization of education is

called for by many indigenous leaders in contemporary Bolivia.Bourdieus terms of habitus, doxa, orthodoxy and heterodoxy will briefly be

presented as I find his theory functional to understand the very concepts of intolerance, injustice

and the reproduction of inequality within the society and, more in particular within the

educational system.

I will present definitions and discuss some academic perspectives upon multicultural,

inter-and finally intra-cultural education, the latter two which the Bolivian government wishes to

promote. Some findings from my fieldwork will be presented as illustrations.

Finally, I will mention some examples from the educational system of Britain and the

Netherlands, both of which were former colonial powers, to illustrate how the debate of

decolonization might be relevant here as well.


32/74


31

3.1 Bourdieu & socio-economic reproduction of inequalities

In Theory of Practice (1977) Pierre Bourdieu introduced the term habitus which refers to a

set of dispositions people adopt through their upbringing. People use their habitus to interpret

their world and relate to it- it becomes their truth. This concept gives an excellent indicator of

our limits as free individuals.

Another functional concept Bourdieu has created is that of doxa, which refers to an

unquestioned knowledge on which people base their actions (Bourdieu, 1977:167). Because

doxic knowledge is excluded from the field of opinions, it is pre-discursive and becomes a

barrier to change. When something remains un-discussed and unquestioned, it will not change

but remains the same. Doxic knowledge is promoted by power-holders. The orthodoxy occurs

when the doxa becomes challenged- for example with the exposition of other cultures- it

imposes the opposition between a right and a wrong opinion- and aims to restore the state of

innocence of doxa (ibid. 1977:169).

Heterodoxy represents the opposite opinion to orthodoxy, the challenged, often vied

as having a backwards perspective, yet implies a choice in the field of opinion (Ibid.).

Orthodoxy is often described as the right way. It presents the dominant view. Our own social

and cultural lens affects our understanding of what is true, real and natural- hence often are being

taken for granted although this play a great impact into how we relate to the world around us.In Bolivia the current debate concerning transformation of the educational system relates

to these concepts. According to critics of the traditional education system it has been based on

exclusion and assimilation and this has persisted in to the current education system (Patzi, 2008).

Western knowledge has been recognized by the mainstream as the correct form for knowledge- it

is a doxa (a truth) which many people dont question. In the perspective of the current

Bolivian government this western doxa has been enforced in the educational system. The last

couple of decades changes have occurred and the indigenous movement has grown stronger in

most parts of the world. The decolonization of education debate highlights this change and in

Bolivia, currently governed by the indigenous, it might not only become a challenge to the

orthodoxy- it might become the orthodoxy.

Through the LeyAvelino Siani y Elizardo Prez the Bolivian government rejects the

continuation of privileging western thought as somewhat universal. It wants to highlight and


33/74


32

stress the importance of the thoughts, knowledge and technology of the cultures of the

indigenous societies, both in the Andes- and in the Amazon by giving an explicit place to this

knowledge in the curriculum (Drange, 2007 from the Congreso Nacional de Eduaction).

3.2 Theoretical approaches towards education as reproduction of inequality

Education will determine who has the keys to the treasures the world can provide

Sen, in EFA report 2002

Education is acknowledged by the United Nations as an important step towards the reduction of

poverty (www.un.org). Noteworthy are also the numerous studies that have shown a strong

connection with good health and education. Children of educated parents generally live longer

and have better health than children of uneducated parents (ibid.). Higher levels of education

usually lead to a decrease in both infant mortality and mortality rates, and research shows that

this also accounts in very basic, primary education (Alan and Thomas, 2001). Illiterate mothers

may be uncertain of their rights, and their lack of confidence prevents many women from

seeking treatment(Ibid.).Education leads to a decline in the fertility rate, which again may give

families a better opportunity to care for and provide education for their children. Bolivia uses

great parts of its national budget on education and the importance of education is recognized in

the proposed bill that states:Education is the highest function of the State, because it is a fundamental human right

and the State has the obligation to sustain and guarantee it. The State maintains

enrolment through a national education program.Avelino Siani y Elizardo Prez

However, although education has mainly been viewed as positive, it can also be a source of

reproducing inequality, as Bourdieu has argued (Bourdieu, 1977). He points out that in education

it is always the dominant culture that has the power to define what correct knowledge is.

Bourdieus concepts might be useful in order to understand the governments wish to

implemented intra-cultural education as it can be seen as a response to counteract the almost

inaccessible circle of the reproduction of inequality. According to Bourdieu control is

administrated by the dominant ideology. Hierarchy and cultural capital determine the fate of

those less fortunate in society. These forces are imposed on those less fortunate in society
http://www.un.org/http://www.un.org/


34/74


33

(Bourdieu, 1991). Thus, parents in a hierarchal position (middle and upper class) invest in

linguistic and cultural competence, which again increases the chances for success for their

children. Hence, education in some ways reproduces inequality (Blackledge, 2000). The

Bolivian governments introduction of the term intra-cultural education is a means to defeat this

reproduction by no longer allowing the western orthodoxy to be the only truth.

Even in relatively homogeneous, socialistic societies such as Norway, this theory has

been proved accurate in much research. We see that children of educated parents are much more

likely to obtain higher education and that children with parents with no or little education are

likely to follow in the same pattern (Raum, 2004, .literacynow.com). Furthermore, almost

everywhere children from marginalized groups keep failing in education (Fukuda-Parr, 2004).

Thus, although education largely is recognized as a means to development and as a human right,

it does not seem to provide people with equal opportunities as it tends to reproduce existing

inequalities. One of the reasons for this may be that cultural capital of the marginalized groups is

not the same as the cultural capital12 recognized by the schools (Corson, 1998:8-10).

This raises the question: Who has the power to define what the right kind of knowledge is?

In Bolivia the educational system has to a large degree been based on learning processes

on the reproduction and memorization of information (Contreras and Talavera, 2004).

Additionally, it relied on Western ideas of knowledge, science and values, never acknowledging

traditional indigenous knowledge as equally valuable.Walter Gutierrez Mena, chief of intra and intercultural education at the Ministry of

Education in La Paz, Bolivia points out that there is a crucial point in which western and

indigenous educational learning differs;

in western society education comes from outside, whereas in indigenous society

education is in the community- it is more holistic, it comes from within, and is integrated

not only in school but by every family- it is communitarian and includes every part of the

society

Gutierrez, interviewed, La Paz, 2009

To qualify the significance of this opinion, it is worth reminding that Western societies also have

internal education. Education in itselfis a general term which explains the social processes that

12 Cultural capital is a term formulated by Bourdieu which express the advantages that people acquire as a part oftheir experiences, their peer group contract and family background.
http://www.literacynow.com/http://www.literacynow.com/


35/74


34

entails learning in human communities by becoming socialized in a culture. In a broad sense

education is universal among human societies and even in societies where individuals spend

many years in schools, much of their education takes place elsewhere, in so-called informal

education. We learn from the people who we interact with. This is an important aspect to keep in

mind when we talk about education, because part of the criticism towards the formal, Western-

style-education is that it is detached from real, significant life experiences of growing up in

indigenous communities as the above quotation illustrates.

Nevertheless, traditional indigenous education has included a greater involvement from

the society, by for example requiring parents to take more part in the education of their children.

Education was more integrated in and connected to daily life in the communities- and took its

relevance precisely because it was embedded.

In many Western capitalistic societies we see a divergence- the responsibility of the state

has taken over what traditionally was seen as the families responsibility. We see this in the care

for the elderly as well as in the public debate about to what extent it is the schools duty to raise

children. This is in keeping with individuals spending more and more time during their lives in

institutions- schools, jobs and in housing for the elderly, where traditionally this used to be

obligation of the family. In this perspective the debate about western and indigenous education is

not so much of ethnical division as a debate about modern capitalist values versus traditional

values.The Bolivian educational system was based on an intense assimilation process after the national

revolution in 1952. Previously the indigenous people were restricted to travel in certain areas but

after the revolution many took advantage of the opportunity to travel freely in their country after

receiving full citizenship rights. The migration led to increased cultural exchange between the

mestizo and the indigenous people. However- the official national policy of ignoring ethnicity,

by granting everybody equal citizen rights backfired, both because ethnicity would not wither,

and because in real life discrimination and exclusion persisted.

During the 1960s and 1970s many intellectual indigenous movements grew forward. In

the 1970s Paulo Freire, a Brazilian philosopher and sociologist, played an important impact on

the philosophy of education in Latin-America. With his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed he

gave voice to the lower classes, which in Bolivia mostly concerned the indigenous people. At

approximately the same time the intellectual Aymara movement Katarismo developed. While it


36/74


35

claims its roots in a distance past it is in reality a truly modern phenomenon (Canessa, 2000:

124). The Katarismo movement is multifarious and consists of several different groups but they

all stress a rejection of elements of Western culture seen as oppressive and stress a return to

traditional Aymara religion and belief system.

The movement has created a sense of an Aymara Nation13, that previous never existed

(ibid.). The very idea of an Aymara nation is rooted as a mixture of contemporary invention and

historical facts, of which language play an immense part of gathering and creating a strong

coherent Aymara identity. Ironically, polities in the Incan and the Tiwannaku empires in the

Andes were historically multi-cultural and multi-lingual (ibid.).

In the words of Andrew Canessa what is worthy to note here is not so much that one can

find forms of hybridity, which in any case can be expected, but that certain historical forms of

hybridity are being rejected (Canessa, 2000: 120). This paradox can be seen as a reaction to

globalization, visible in many parts of the world - where the mixing of different cultures induces

a fear of cultural loss, and in an attempt to protect their traditional culture people sometimes

exaggerate its purity. Indeed, Katarismo is by far most visible in metropolitan areas of the

northern highlands of Bolivia than in the rural areas (ibid.). This movement has been highly

critical of one of the pillars of the national revolution in 1952; mass education that has promoted

a strong assimilation of the indigenous people- losing their sense of identity and self-respect.

They have argued that it is important to restore their own epistemology into the curriculum.

13 The definition of nation is not used in the way of Benedict Anderson who see it as a nation- state, but in abroader sense, as a political active group who recognize themselves as ethnically distinct. It is not necessary forthis kind of nationalism to claim a separate nation state (Canessa, 2000:126)


37/74


36

3.3 Multicultural, inter-cultural and intra-cultural approaches the problems

of defining and defending culture

While multicultural education aims to achieve tolerance and co-existence between cultures,inter-cultural education takes it one step further and deals with interaction between cultural

groups Groenendijk, 2005:15

The term multicultural describes cultural diversity; it includes linguistic, religious and socio-

economic diversity (Unecso, 2006). Intercultural is a term that presupposes multiculturalism and

results in intercultural exchange- it is a dynamic concept that refers to evolving relations

between cultural groups (ibid, 2006:16).

Multicultural education was developed from Afro-Americans political movements which

wanted its history and cultural values to be presented in the curriculum (Dietz, 2003: 16-17).

Even though the main idea is co-existence and tolerance between the different cultural groups it

operates within exciting power relations in society and runs the risk of viewing different cultures

as fixed systems completely separated from each other (Dietz, 2003: 24-25).

Intercultural education arose later than multicultural education and as the quotation above

underscores: it is seen as a step further as it deals with interaction between different cultural

groups. Ideal intercultural education promotes communication, exchange and dialog between the

different cultures. In this way it can enrich the different cultures- they can relate in a positive

way without losing ones own cultural identity.

Nonetheless, true intercultural education has not really worked in Bolivia. As illustrated

in the background chapter, the educational system was supposed to have implemented inter-

cultural emphasis in the curriculum during the past 14 years in the educational system. But this

has not created more equality in the society. Being indigenous has for too long been associated

with a low status. In order to attain a true inter-cultural society, in which the different cultures

interact on an equal basis, one needs to restore self-respect, confidence and pride in theindigenous groups. This is what the current Bolivian government has named intra-cultural

education- it means, as the term implies to look inwards-into their own culture and restore faith

in it, revive it and implement their cultural knowledge and language into the curriculum.


38/74


37

Intra-cultural education then, becomes the means of change as it underlines the need to create a

sense of indigenous identity and pride into the curriculum. It is meant as a tool

decolonization of education in bolivia

Documents