Coloniality in language and education policies and the sustenance of Indigenous languages in the Global South: The case of the Wayuu people in Colombia

Abstract

Coloniality in education and language policies continues to impact Indigenous communities in implicit and complex ways. In this article, we describe the case of Colombia where, like in many other countries in the Global South, educational policy messages are contradictory. While ethno-education policies purport to sustain Indigenous languages and epistemologies and grant Indigenous peoples the right to educate their children and youth in ways that sustain their cultural and linguistic identities, the National Bilingual Plan enforces colonial English and Spanish exclusively, thus implicitly devaluing Indigenous peoples’ bilingualism. This has resulted in further displacement of Indigenous languages that now compete for space in the curriculum against two colonial languages. Drawing on Southern Epistemologies Coloniality and Decoloniality, in this case study, we explore how these seemingly contradicting policies impact curriculum design, how teachers and school administrators in the Wayuu community, the largest Indigenous people in Colombia, perceive and navigate these demands, and how they, along other community members, envisage possibilities to resist this impact. Findings point to the insufficiency of stand-alone policies to sustain Indigenous languages and cultures and assert the need to center Indigenous voices and epistemologies to decolonize education.

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