Indigeneity and Pathways through Higher Education in Mexico

土著群体面临的社会和经济劣势是一项重大的全球政策挑战。世界上3.1亿土著人民主要生活在官方发展援助国家，他们面临的贫困率估计是非土著人口的两倍，健康和教育成果更差，他们的权利得不到承认。在应对这一政策挑战方面，许多国家在卫生、福利、就业以及最近在高等教育方面制定了开创性的社会政策。关于高等教育政策的创新，包括提供多样化形式的高等教育，如何影响土著人民的社会和经济发展，包括寻求吸纳土著青年(通过扶持行动方案)或将土著青年分开(进入专门为他们设计的大学)的政策的相对好处，人们知之甚少。在政策发展的基础上，我们可以确定两种相互竞争的论述，一种是关于土著知识和特性的集体论述，另一种是关于技能发展和劳动力市场进入的个性化论述。这两者都代表着截然不同的价值观、政治和方法，以及土著人民需求方面的真正紧张。该项目站在这些论述的交汇点上，试图批判性地质疑不同类型的大学如何通过重点关注墨西哥案件对土著群体产生社会和工具上的影响。鉴于墨西哥在开发专门为土著群体设计的新型大学(“跨文化大学”)方面的先锋作用，墨西哥是一个理想的具有国际意义的案例研究。我们考察了就读的大学类型如何影响土著学生的经历、获得的技能/知识以及不同社会领域的认同感。该提案是与墨西哥教育部、土著社区发展非政府组织、联合国教科文组织和墨西哥全国大学和高等教育协会合作制定的。该提案汇集了韦拉克鲁斯大学印第安人遗传学领域的一个国际研究小组，以及来自墨西哥城大学和巴斯大学的教育社会学家。为了了解上不同类型大学的影响，将对墨西哥高等教育中代表不同机构类型的3所大学进行定性研究。将在每个机构内进行参与者观察，这将使能够在3年内纵向跟踪60名土著学生的身份，跟踪他们在大学及以后的学习情况。采取这一纵向办法时，将认真注意连续性和变化，以及根据所在大学的经历、接触、获得的技能/知识和对未来的渴望而产生的重要差异。为了提供一个更全面的图景，还将从他们的3名社会网络成员那里获得关于上大学的影响的观点，这些成员分布在他们的土著社区、同龄人群体和大学后目的地(例如工作场所)的社会领域。将与土著社区发展团体、墨西哥教育部的项目合作伙伴以及政策和实践领域的其他有影响力的合作伙伴合作，制定可持续的政策和实践建议。这项工作与面临类似挑战的其他发展中国家有关，通过我们与教科文组织的伙伴关系，将最大限度地发挥对这些其他国家产生影响的潜力。

The social and economic disadvantage faced by Indigenous groups represents a significant global policy challenge. The world's 310 million Indigenous peoples, who largely live in Official Development Assistance (ODA) countries, face a poverty rate that is estimated to be twice that of the non-Indigenous population, as well as poorer health and education outcomes, and a lack of recognition of their rights. In terms of addressing this policy challenge, many countries have developed pioneering social policies in health, welfare, employment, and more recently in higher education. Little is known about how innovations in higher education policy, including diversified forms of higher education provision, are affecting the social and economic development of Indigenous peoples, including the relative benefit of policies that seek to assimilate (by programmes of affirmative action) or separate Indigenous youth (into universities designed specifically for them). Underlying policy development, we can identify two competing discourses, a collectivising one on Indigenous knowledge and identities, and an individualising one of skills development and labour market entry. These both represent distinct values, politics, and methods, as well as real tensions in the needs of Indigenous peoples. This project stands at the conjunction of these discourses and will seek to critically question how different types of university impact on Indigenous groups both socially and instrumentally, through focussing on the Mexican case. Mexico represents the ideal internationally relevant case study given its pioneering role developing new kinds of university provision designed specifically for Indigenous groups ('intercultural universities'). We examine how the type of university attended impacts on Indigenous student experiences, skills/knowledge acquired, and identifications across different social domains. The proposal has been developed in partnership with the Mexican Ministry of Education, Indigenous community development NGOs, UNESCO, and the Mexican National Association for Universities and Higher Education.The proposal brings together an international team of researchers in the field of Indigeneity from Universidad Veracruz with sociologists of education from UNAM (Mexico City) and University of Bath. In order to generate knowledge about the effect of attending different types of university, qualitative research will be carried out across 3 purposefully selected universities representing diversity of institutional type within Mexican higher education. Participant observation will be conducted within each institution, which will enable the identification of 60 Indigenous students to be tracked longitudinally over a 3-year period, following them as they progress through university and beyond. Taking this longitudinal approach, careful attention will be paid to continuity and change, as well as important differences based on university attended, in terms of their experiences, encounters, skills/knowledge acquired and aspirations for the future. To provide a more complete picture, perspectives will also be gained about the impact of university attended from 3 members of their social network situated across the social domains of their Indigenous 'community', peer-group and post-university destination (e.g. workplace). Working with Indigenous community development groups, and project partner in the Mexican Ministry of Education, as well as other influential partners in the fields of policy and practice, sustainable recommendations for policy and practice will be developed. The work is relevant to other developing country contexts facing similar challenges, and the potential for impact across these other countries will be maximised through our partnership with UNESCO.