Seventeenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

The Mexican government recognizes Indigenous languages as national languages, at the same level as Spanish. It further mandates that children from Indigenous peoples have access to compulsory education in their own language and in Spanish. Mexico’s General Law on the Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Peoples, specifically, is a measure aimed at improving educational opportunities for Mexico’s diverse Indigenous population. This law gives Mexico’s Indigenous students the right to teacher(s) who both write and speak the language of their community. We see this legislation as a means toward a sustainable future (sustaining Indigenous languages) for Mexican youth. Moreover, it is a systemic approach to honoring the histories and cultures of families and communities who have been marginalized. Schools that center Indigenous languages and culture provide for spaces of belonging for students, families, and communities. The Yucatán region is home to Mexico’s largest Indigenous population (Mayans) and has the highest percentage of Indigenous language speakers. In this paper, we will focus on two bilingual and bicultural schools in Mérida, located in the Yucatán region. These are Mayan-Spanish bilingual schools. We use ‘Indigenous knowledge as a natural resource’ as a framework, as we detail the ‘schooling’ (curricula, pedagogies, and perspectives of educators) occurring in these schools as a means of sustaining Indigenous languages and ways of knowing. This provides perspective on how the schools are immersed in the community and support the continuity of knowledge and culture.