A Community Path to Higher Education: Pluriepistemic Research-Practice for designign the Biocultural Indigenous University of the Inga People of Colombia

History, Background, and Context of PartnershipThe Inga people are an Indigenous group of Inka descent who live in large rural areas of Southern Colombia, as well as in cities.1 Stretching from the Andes to the Amazonian lowlands, Inga territories are biologically diverse and strategically important as the source of major Amazonian rivers. The Inga are recognized for their ancestral knowledge of Andean-Amazonian plants, which they have managed to adapt to different climatic zones of their territory, as well as carrying out experiments in urban agriculture.During the past five centuries, the Inga have consistently resisted genocide, ethnocide, andterritorial dispossession. Ongoing violence included the systematic destruction of Indigenouslanguages and cultures through colonial and nation-state educational policies administered by the Catholic Church. This trend continues today through neocolonial expropriation of lands and natural resources, drug trafficking, social and armed conflicts, and constant violation of rights.Fifteen years ago, the Inga people embarked on a remarkable path of self-determination toreweave their Indigenous identities and ways of life based on a philosophy of Good Living ¿ Suma Kausai ¿ in deep connection with the Earth and all its beings. With the fragile process of pacification following the Peace Agreements of 2016 came a desire to reconnect and build on a collective vision for the future, which includes permanent structures for higher education. They strive for a university that will safeguard their cultural knowledge, language, and natural environment, prepare the community for a professional future in their territories, and contribute to Suma Kausai. The majority of the population living in these regions, whether Indigenous or colonialsettlers, have a low degree of formal education. Students who are seeking a university education have to move to faraway cities like Medellin or Bogotá, which for a poor population represents a major obstacle. Those who do complete their degree often do not return to their community, not least because the education they receive fails to meet the demands of a life in the Indigenous territories. The continuous drain of young educated people leads to a population who lacks the skills for assuming many of the most essential tasks required to thrive culturally, socially and economically both in their territories and beyond. In response to these predicaments, in 2017 Inga authorities established the mandate to create an Indigenous university. This ATUN IACHAI ÑAMBI or great path of knowledge, upholds the principles of Indigenous territory, autonomy, jurisdiction, and cosmovision in keeping with the guidelines established by the Inga Life Plan2 and Safeguard. The University project benefits from the enormous work that went into researching,designing, and implementing the Inga own educational model over the last 12 years. Accompanied by teams of professionals, an Inga commission was formed in 2009 with a broad representation from all parts of the territory to establish the KASAMI PURINICHI MIKANCHIPA IACHAIKUNAWA, the Ethno-educational Project of the Inga People, which embodies the principles and methodologies that guide cultural and intercultural education from early childhood to higher education. Such a process has developed through a series of agreements between regional Indigenous organizations and Colombia¿s Ministry of National Education.4 The aim of this ethnoeducational project is to restore a collective learning environment to reaffirm language and cultural identity, spirituality, and territoriality in accordance with Inga¿s thought and respect to Nukanchipa Alpa Mama, Our Mother Earth, as source of wisdom and knowledge.The pedagogical cycles currently in place are organized along four main pedagogical routes:Territory and Cosmovision, Languages and Meanings, Inga Spirituality and Medicine, and Social Organization, each one with subprojects (Proyecto Etnoeducativo del Pueblo Inga, p. 50-75). Pedagogical projects transcend the segmentation in subject areas or disciplines, and place as the object of education the complex reading of reality in order to transform it. ¿Walking the paths of life and learning¿ brings together actors, collective learning scenarios, purposes, strategies, and material culture to achieve a collectively interwoven fabric of knowledge. Learning unfolds through practical activities in such spaces as the chagra (biodiverse horticultural gardens), the tulpa (the fireplace), the minga (communal work), assemblies, community meetings, rituals, and a range of artistic expressions. Inga spirituality, medicine, and ceremonies are of central importance in guiding the paths of learning that for the Inga are not just paths of investigation and knowledge generation, but of affection, solidarity, wisdom, and pursuit of well-being for the multiplicity of beings and life forms that co-exist in the territory.The complex reading of reality not only updates and strengthens the processes of learningInga culture, but also activates intercultural knowledge. Since some skills only become necessary in the relationship with the hegemonic society, the Inga are urged to critically incorporate contributions from other cultures. Collective research-practice guides the permanent evaluation of educational methods, tools, and resources around the question of how to reaffirm Inga culture and strengthen the footings of Inga relationships with the national society, while adopting elements from other cultures.The next step is to bring these principles and experiences onto the level of higher educationto broaden the scope of learning, strengthen social cohesion, and establish viable relations with other institutions of higher education in Colombia and abroad. Our proposal is to partner in the successful transition to University-level education.