Intercultural higher education and knowledge dialogue: The case of Amawtay Wasi University in Ecuador

Abstract

This article demonstrates the influence and importance of Intercultural Bilingual Education in the plurinational and intercultural state-building process in Ecuador. It also highlights the tensions and contradictions generated within the Ecuadorian educational system, when faced with the task of creating spaces for dialogue between scientific and traditional knowledge systems. The analysis of the Universidad Comunitaria Intercultural de Nacionalidades y Pueblos Indígenas Amawtay Wasi (UINPI-AW) makes clear that, beyond state discourse, interculturality is still a concept under construction. Apart from a limited practice at the institutional level, the establishment of interculturality as a guiding, organic principle of such a diverse society requires a critical thinking approach as well as political will.