Intercultural Education and Harakmbut Identity
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INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION AND HARAKMBUT IDENTITY: A CASE STUDY OF THE COMMUNITY OF SAN JOSE IN SOUTHEASTERN PERU SHEILA HELEN AIKMAN Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Institute of Education, University of London BIBL March 1994 LONDON UNIV ABSTRACT National governments in Latin America have deliberately used education to try to integrate indigenous peoples into 'modern' society and thereby further economic development. Nevertheless, 'development' in the Amazon has brought widespread destruction of indigenous territories and erosion of the very basis of indigenous identities and ways of life. The failure of formal education has focused indigenous peoples' attention on the need for culturally appropriate education and demands for 'intercultural bilingual' education. This study examines learning and education in a remote Arakmbut community in the Peruvian Amazon where external political, social and economic influences are threatening indigenous identity. It considers the conflicts and tensions which exist between the formal school, implanted in the community, and the Arakmbut cultural basis of learning, education and knowledge which is built upon a fundamentally different world view. Because of the incompatibility of world views, the Arakmbut have developed strategies to try to limit the influence of the Catholic mission-controlled school and keep their own educational practices distinct. For many indigenous peoples, intercultural education provides a means of both strengthening and maintaining their way of life and acquiring competencies for their participation in the life of the nation state. However, for the Arakmbut, intercultural education poses a dilemma because its predominantly literate and formal nature threatens their 'informal' learning processes, the spiritual basis of their knowledge and the oral character of their indigenous and collective identity. The Arakmbut have maintained their unique world view by ensuring their complete control over its transmission to new generations. However, because of threats from outside, they need to be able to strengthen these educational processes. They also need to improve the quality and relevance of the formal education to combat its ethnocidal characteristics. This thesis examines the potential of intercultural bilingual education for achieving both these objectives and concludes that, for the Arakmbut to consider it a useful ally, it must be enshrined in their demands for and expressions of self-determination over their lives. This means that intercultural education cannot be restricted to the school but must encompasses the whole of Arakmbut society. CONTENTS List of Maps iv List of Tables iv List of Figures iv Acknowledgements CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 The Ethnographic Background 5 The Concept of Intercultural Bilingual Education 10 Defining Terms: Culture and Curriculum 12 - Conceptions of Culture 12 - Conceptions of Curriculum 15 Research Methods 18 CHAPTER 2: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' EDUCATION FROM ASSIMILATION TO CULTURAL PLURALISM: PERU IN CONTEXT 22 Education for Assimilation and Integration 23 Religious Missions and Indigenous Education 27 Education and Cultural Pluralism 30 Indigenous Education for and by Indigenous peoples 35 CHAPTER 3: FORMAL EDUCATION AND INDIGENOUS ORGANISATION IN THE MADRE DE DIOS 42 Madre de Dios - On the Margins of National Activity 42 An Arakmbut View of the World 44 A 'Civilising Mission' among the Indigenous Peoples of Madre de Dios 49 Dominican Boarding School as the 'Happy Hearth' 52 Institutionalising Schooling: Dominicans versus Protestants 57 In the Path of the Gold Rush 62 Indigenous Organisation, Schooling and Intercultural Bilingual Education 64 A Typology of Harakmbut Communities 69 CHAPTER 4: THE PRIMARY SCHOOL IN THE COMMUNITY OF SAN JOSE 73 The Characteristics of Formal Education 75 - Authoritative Control 76 - Normative Classroom Exchange 77 - Memorising as Learning 78 Conditions and Constraints on Teachers 79 - The Peruvian Education System 79 - The Diocese 85 The Teacher's Task - The Bearer of Culture 87 - The Community Developer 93 - The Lay-Missionary 96 Strategies for Coping 102 ii CHAPTER 5: AN ARAKMBUT PERSPECTIVE ON SCHOOLING 108 Community Perceptions of the San José School and Teachers 109 - The School as a Symbol of 'Civilisation' 109 - The School as a Forum for Learning Spanish 111 - The School as a Forum for Writing 114 - The School as Synonymous with Authority and Control 115 The Barrier to Understanding and Communication between Teachers and Community 119 The School Wall: Limiting Arakmbut Influence or Controlling Teacher Power/ 123 Differential Relationships with the Teachers 127 The Politics of Education in San José 133 CHAPTER 6: ARAKMBUT KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION 139 Knowledge and Growth: the Acquisition of Knowledge and the Ability to Use It 142 The Arakmbut Life Cycle 146 - Infancy 146 - Childhood: incomplete adulthood 147 - Adulthood: the binding together of body and soul 150 - Old Age: knowledge versus nokiren 154 A Community-wide Fishing Activity 156 Different Ways of Acquiring Knowledge 162 - Experiential Knowledge 162 - Knowledge Through Dreaming 165 - Knowledge Passed on by the Elders 167 The Communication of Knowledge and the Learning of Values and Skills 170 The Process of Learning 177 CHAPTER 7: MAINSTREAM EDUCATION FOR COLLECTIVE PURPOSES: HARAKMBUT STUDENTS IN THE FORMAL SYSTEM 185 Primary Schooling - the Academic Record for the San José School 186 Success and Failure within the San José Autonomous School 195 Changing Domains and Challenging Abilities 201 Secondary School: an Educational, Social and Psychological Watershed 203 - 'Culture Shock' 205 - Dropping out 208 The Importance of Higher Education for Students and Community 213 School Learning as a Collective Resource 218 CHAPTER 8: BILINGUAL EDUCATION FOR LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE: ORAL TRADITIONS AND SCHOOLED LITERACY 222 The Proximity of 'Wahaipis' 223 A Brief Overview of Research Evidence in Favour of Bilingual Education 228 The Shipibo: Questioning 'Maintenance' Bilingual Education 232 The Aguaruna: Breaking the 'Transitional/Maintenance' Dichotomy 235 The Communicative Practices of the Arakmbut of San José 237 Arakmbut Language Practices: Intra-ethnic Contexts 239 The Arakmbut Relationship with the Written Word 244 Communication in San José School 246 Arakmbut Literacy for Empowerment and 'Real World' Usage 250 Oral Language Maintenance and Cultural Revitalisation 255 The Pros and Cons of Bilingual Education for the Harakmbut 261 iii CHAPTER 9: INTERCULTURAL SCHOOLING FOR AN INTERCULTURAL SOCIETY 265 Intercultural Education in the Peruvian Amazon: a Relationship Between Cultures 266 - Adapting the Majority Culture Curriculum 269 - Adapting with Sensitivity 270 - Intercultural Education to Combat Indigenous Marginalisation 274 - An Indigenous-determined Intercultural Education 275 Intercultural Education Based in Which Culture/ 276 Redefining the 'Specialists' 281 An Indigenous Pedagogy 283 Intercultural Education for the Harakmbut People 286 Strengthening Harakmbut Indigenous Identity: the Place for Education 295 CHAPTER 10: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN CONTROL OF THEIR OWN EDUCATION 300 Models for Indigenous-Controlled Intercultural Education 301 A Model for Educational Change in San José 308 - Parameters for Educational Change: the School Domain 310 - Possibilities for Cultural Enrichment: the Community Domain 313 Questioning Assumptions about Indigenous Peoples and Intercultural Education 317 APPENDIX A: Intercultural and Bilingual Education Projects in Peru 331 APPENDIX B: Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in the Harakmbut Language 334 APPENDIX C: A Day in the Life of the San Jose Primary School 335 GLOSSARIES 339 BIBLIOGRAPHY 344 iv LIST OF MAPS Map 1: San José and other Arakmbut Communities, Madre de Dios 2 Map 2: Indigenous Peoples of the Peruvian Amazon 7 Map 3: Indigenous Communities of the Madre de Dios 9 Map 4: The Traditional Distribution of the Harakmbut 45 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Characteristics of the Educational Environment of San José School 105 Table 2: Differentiation of Relationships with Teachers 132 Table 3: Characteristics of Schooled and Informal Learning 140 Table 4: Differentiation of Learning and Activities through Life 152 Table 5: A Comparison of Arakmbut and School Learning Strategies 181 Table 6: 1983 Grade 1 Cohort, San José Primary School 188 Table 7: Dropout Rate in San José School 1983-1988 189 Table 8: Number of Years Taken to Complete Primary School 190 Table 9: Comparison of 6th Grade Marks between Indigenous Amazon Regions for 1987 192 Table 10: Comparison of 6th Grade Marks for San José School 1983-1992 193 Table 11: Groupings in San José School According to Number of Repeated Grades 196 Table 12: 1991 San José Students Grouped by Polythetic Criteria 197 Table 13: Percentage of Dropouts by Grade for FENAMAD Secondary School Students 1985-1989 208 Table 14: FENAMAD Secondary Students' Attendance and Dropout 209 Table 15: Dropout of Female FENAMAD Students from Secondary School 209 Table 16: Harakmbut Communities and Cultural Erosion 288 Table 17: Different Relations between Cultures in Intercultural Curricula 305 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Alternative Design for an Indigenous Rainforest School 66 Figure 2: Ministry of Education Design for a 'Noble School' 68 Figure 3: The Dominican Approach to 'Cultural Pastoralism' 101 Figure 4: Relationship between the Nokiren and the Growth of Knowledge