Community-school linkage: a look from the indigenous conception of learning in two wixáritaari communities of Mexico

Abstract

Community participation is a goal in various fields, such as popular education, rural development, and educational policies. In the case of indigenous pedagogical alternatives, community participation in school has its own meaning and terms. Few studies in the educational field account for indigenous conceptions of knowledge, their forms of transmission and their implications for participation. This article analyzes the meaning of the community-school linkage in light of the conception of learning in two wixáritaari communities in Mexico, Jalisco and Durango. The approach adopted is educational and communicational. After a five-year collaborative relationship with the schools in the communities, a qualitative study was carried out that included observations, photographic records, and 23 interviews with teachers, parents, authorities, and some students. The results are reported in four categories: learning, knowledge, community sense of participation and Wixárika education at school. Participation is conceived as collaboration, based on a sense of belonging, dialogue and collective decisions; the school is part of the community and there is no division between the educational and the community space.