Higher Intercultural Education and Knowledge Dialogue: The case of Amawtay Wasi University in Ecuador

Author: Anita Krainer, Daniela Aguirre, Martha Guerra y Anna Meiser
Abstract: This article shows the influence and importance that Intercultural Bilingual Education has had in the plurinational and intercultural state building process in Ecuador, along with displaying the tensions and contradictions generated within the Ecuadorian educational system when faced with the task of creating spaces for dialogue between scientific and traditional knowledge. The analysis of the Universidad Comunitaria Intercultural de Nacionalidades y Pueblos Indígenas Amawtay Wasi (UINPI-AW) case study makes clear that, beyond state discourse, interculturality is yet a concept to be comprehended besides a limited practice at an institutional level. The establishment of interculturality as a real organic principle of such a diverse society requires a critical thinking approach as well as political will.
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