Abstract
Based on ethnographic research with an Indigenous community in Junín, Peru, and involving over 21 participants, this article explores the link between Indigenous lands, environmental knowledge, cultural practices, and education. Drawing from traditional ecological knowledge and nature-mediated education, Indigenous community spaces as vital learning spaces are highlighted. Through the lens of family and community-scale farming, this article also discusses critical perspectives on Indigenous agricultural traditions, lessons in subsistence farming, food and notions of success for students, and globalisation. Finally, an argument is made for educational development to acknowledge the breadth of Indigenous ecological issues, to prioritize Indigenous lands, languages, and cultural practices, and to support collaborative research that underscores Indigenous epistemologies.
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Acknowledgments
This article is dedicated to the farmers who have passed on but left us with their stories—Mama Pilar Zapaico Berrocal and Demetrio Tueros—and to Mama Yolanda Herrera Borja for sharing the Wanka oral tradition. Sulpay kay nunakunata: the people of Hatun Shunqo, especially Irma Yaurivilca and Ramiro Salazar and their family, Herminia Salazar and her family, and to the Wanka people of the Mantaro Valley. This article is also dedicated to Mama Victoria, Paulino Tueros and their family—special thanks to Mama Victoria for her beautiful description of our farming land. My sincerest gratitude to hermano Serafin Coronel-Molina for his compassionate assistance with the informal Wanka orthography used in this article. I chose to include here some Wanka language as described by participants in the fieldwork with the awareness that language literacy can be a controversial topic, so any errors in readers comprehending the original intention of the language are my own and not those of the participants. Many thanks to Teresa McCarty and Bryan Brayboy for their compassionate support of my research, and to K. Tsianina Lomawaiama for her reading of the manuscript and suggestions on Indigenous science and technology, to Eleanor Abrams for her careful reading of the manuscript and assistance with journal selection, and to all the other Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars who inspire and collaborate with Indigenous peoples. Urpillay sonqollay to family, Hortensia Huaman Carhuamaca for her feedback on this manuscript, to Tía Michicha (Ines Callalli Villafuerte) for her inspiration and love of our Andean culture and languages, and to the farmers, educators, and students who show their respect and love for Pachamama every day.
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Sumida Huaman, E. Tuki Ayllpanchik (our beautiful land): Indigenous ecology and farming in the Peruvian highlands. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 11, 1135–1153 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-014-9622-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-014-9622-z