BILINGUAL INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION AS RECONCILIATION POLICY IN AYACUCHO, PERU: CITIZENSHIP, SUBJECTIVITY, AND LANGUAGE Kate Grim-Feinberg, Ph.D. Lecturer in Global Studies University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
[email protected]
American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting Sunday, November 24, 2013
Research Questions
Above: Accessed Nov 22, 2013 at http://www.rcrwireless.com/americas/files/2011/03/latin_america2.gif Right: Mapa Etnolinguistico del Peru 2009, Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo de Pueblos Andinos, Amazonicos y Afroperanos
Theoretical Framework cultural models: shared underlying assumptions that guide the actions of a group of people (Holland and Quinn 1987; D’Andrade and Strauss 1992; D’Andrade 1995; Shore 1996)
foundational model: a general and abstract cultural model that pervades all aspects of social life for a particular cultural group (Shore 1996) respectful subjectivity: a foundational model underlying understandings of personhood and interpersonal relations among Quechuaspeaking Andeans (Grim-Feinberg 2013)
Research Methods •14 months of fieldwork, 2007-2011 •89 students in grades 1-6; core group of 10 •Town population of about 500 residents •Participant observation •Interviews •Audiovisual documentation •Family, school, and peer group activities
A Foundational Model of Respectful Subjectivity Respect the social order, ensure that others in your social group respect the social order, and collectively earn the respect of outsiders. “Portate como gente.”/ “Runa hina kay.”/ “Behave like a human being.”
What Makes Children Behave? The Motivational Force of a Cultural Model Hypothesis 1: a child’s degree of identification with a social group Hypothesis 2: a child’s framing of an activity Hypothesis 3: a child’s communicative competence in Quechua Hypothesis 4: personality and individual disposition (psychological factors)
What Makes Children Behave? The Motivational Force of a Cultural Model Hypothesis 1: a child’s degree of identification with a social group Hypothesis 2: a child’s framing of an activity Hypothesis 3: a child’s communicative competence in Quechua Hypothesis 4: personality and individual disposition (psychological factors)
What Makes Children Behave? Quechua and Respectful Subjectivity
What Makes Children Behave? Quechua and Respectful Subjectivity ...Olivia has a concerned expression on her face, as if she is about to cry, and she looks toward Teo, speaking about him as if he weren’t there: “Teacher Jesus is going to punish him. I know he will.” Nidia also looks at Teo as Olivia says this, but her facial expression is more accusatory than concerned... Finally, as she finishes speaking, Olivia turns her head away from Kate and back toward Teo, looking at him with an expression of concern, as if observing from a distance a personal problem that she doesn’t know how to deal with…
What Makes Children Behave? Quechua and Respectful Subjectivity Parameters for future research • larger population (all 89 children in the school) • systematic data gathering on language competency • systematic data gathering on adherence to the cultural model • systematic data gathering on confounding variables: e.g. exposure to television, amount of time spent in a coastal city
Contradictions of Bilingual Intercultural Education (EBI) as Reconciliation Policy Value your Quechua language and culture
Quechua language and culture have no value
• EBI
in rural impoverished schools
• No EBI in urban middle class schools
• Quechua
• L1 Quechua
as L2 for today’s schoolchildren • Children
must value their cultural identity and maternal language
as negative interference for yesterday’s schoolchildren • Andean
families have only negative characteristics in relation to schooling
Strengthening Bilingual Intercultural Education (EBI) • teach grammatical structures, not outdated vocabulary • focus on respect morphemes in Quechua • teach Quechua class in Quechua • teach Quechua in a communicative context, not through memorization
THANK YOU! YOU!
• Research Questions, Methods, Theories • A Foundational Model of Respectful Subjectivity • What Makes Children Behave? • Quechua and Respectful Subjectivity •Contradictions of Bilingual Intercultural Education (EBI) as Reconciliation Policy •Strengthening EBI
What Makes Children Behave? “pathologies of cultural models… help clarify both the normal place of cultural models in human experience and their problematical relation to lived experience. ...cultural models do not construct reality for people but only the publicly articulated part of reality” -Bradd Shore 1996, p.185 “Schema theory is important for helping to understand how people bring cultural knowledge to bear in creating each of a variety of possible interpretations of a given situation, but schema theory does not tell us how people negotiate these varied interpretations and put them together into action.” Dorothy Holland 1992, p. 76
Bilingual Intercultural Education (EBI) as Reconciliation Policy Social Dimension of Reconciliation “Promoting education in respect for ethnic and cultural differences” “Adapting all aspects of schooling to the ethnolinguistic, cultural, and geographical diversity of the nation” (Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación 2008, p. 418)
Contradictions of EBI Family Characteristics: •Low expectations for children’s learning •Indifference and little participation in institutional activities •Familial disorganization •Physical aggression •Incomplete homes •Lack of stable work Student Characteristics: •The students possess little predisposition for learning •They don’t have study habits or know study techniques •Low academic performance •Little help at home, many waste their time (Institutional Educational Project 2005, p. 10, 18)
