Abstract
In this article I discuss the revitalization of Wixárika (pl. Wixaritari) oral history in autonomous intercultural schools and community museums in the context of formal and non-formal education and the epistemic decolonisation process among the indigenous peoples of México. In Wixárika communities knowledge is transferred orally in relational networks between kin groups, religious and political authorities, and ancestors. In the network of Wixárika community-based museums the concept of art is understood as continuous with this oral knowledge, not separated between different art disciplines as in formal art education.
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Notes
- 1.
My research methodology can also be defined as artistic action research, see Lehtonen and Pöyhönen (2018).
- 2.
For example, the interviews for this article were recorded during three video workshops, Taller de museología (2014), Aquí estamos sudando (2015), and Grabando al caminar (2017) at Tatuutsi Maxakwaxi school. While writing this article I also processed the performance Translating Other Knowledge together with the Sámi linguist Irja Seurujärvi-Kari and the Wixarika history teacher Manuel de la Cruz, whose statement is cited in the beginning of this article.
- 3.
Translated by the author.
- 4.
Ibid.
- 5.
Since the Wixárika institution of rukuriɨkate is very old and its education often taking place at the context of the tuki temple is quite formal and rigorous, the concept of non-formal education might be misleading. However, it would be equally misleading to speak for example about rukuriɨkate-based, tuki-based or sacred education, because traditional art education happens in many contexts and places and because the dichotomy between sacred and non-sacred is foreign for the Wixaritari (Salvador 2017, 26–27).
- 6.
For example, Aguinaga, Liffman and Rojas who have written research on Tatuutsi Maxakwaxi school have also worked for Wixarika rights for many years as activists.
- 7.
The teachers’ council has not agreed to write or sign me a research permission. Because of the teachers’ previous experiences with the teiwari (non-wixarika) they are suspicious about written agreements in general. The teachers say that research collaboration should be based on mutual trust and that an oral permission should be as valid as a written one.
- 8.
Translated by the author.
- 9.
In 2017 three members of CEIWYNA network, facilitated by members of CRASH, visited four indigenous community museums in the state of Oaxaca, Manuel de la Cruz Muñoz, representing Tunuwame museum, visited Te Tuhi gallery and many museums in Auckland, New Zealand, and Carlos Salvador, the rector of Tatuutsi Maxakwaxi school, visited the Sámi museum Siida. In 2018 Eduardo Madera, representing Tunuwame museum, visited indigenous community museums in British Columbia, Canada.
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Acknowledgments
This research has been undertaken as part of the ArtsEqual—project funded by the Academy of Finland’s Strategic Research Council from its Equality in Society-programme, project no. 293199.
I would like to thank Otso Kortekangas, Jukka Nyyssönen, and Sarah Corona for reading the manuscript of this article and making insightful comments on it.
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Kantonen, L. (2019). Revitalization of Oral History in Wixárika Community-Based Schools and Museums: Working Towards Decolonisation of Art Education Among the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico. In: Kortekangas, O., Keskitalo, P., Nyyssönen, J., Kotljarchuk, A., Paksuniemi, M., Sjögren, D. (eds) Sámi Educational History in a Comparative International Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24112-4_15
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