Indigenous people in urban contexts and schooling processes: Epistemic and methodological contributions in dialogue with the work of María Bertely

Abstract

In this article, we recover and expand our lenses on the research experience in dialogue with a part of María Bertely's production. To do this, and about the academic spaces that we shared with María, we return to some nodal analyses and reflections around the lines of research that we have developed for several decades regarding indigenous schooling in urban and migration contexts in Mexico. Every day, this field of study becomes more important in the face of the growing migration of the indigenous population to the various cities of the national territory. Among its multiple causes and consequences, both structural and cyclical, we analyze its links and implications with the schooling context, mainly in this text referring to elementary education considering national and international public policies.
Bertely was a pioneer in studies that addressed the relationship between school and indigenous migration in urban contexts. In the fabric of these debates, the authors developed a series of investigations that make visible the right to education with cultural and linguistic recognition, mainly of indigenous populations in schools of the general system of the national territory. The text, more than reflecting a state of knowledge on the subject, documents certain journeys that refer to epistemic and methodological transformations that occurred in educational anthropological research. Likewise, it seeks to contribute to public policies in the education, diversity, and interculturalism field, an approach that currently guides the entire educational system in Mexico.