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Nancy Sabas is the former MCC Guatemala Connecting Peoples Coordinator. She currently works in Colombia.
A few weeks ago, I visited the Ixil region of Guatemala’s northern alitiplano, during my last learning tour as part of the Connecting People program. I visited different plots of land maintained by the young Mayan Ixiles, members of the Chemol T´xumbal/FUNDAMAYA network, through a project accompanied by MCC called: “Land access for a dignified rural life.”
These young people, who are struggling to vindicate campesino pride and to demonstrate to their parents that they can be responsible for their patrimonial land, work together in agricultural initiatives through Xula’. For the Ixiles, Xula’ is an ancestral tradition where the members of the community exchange farm labour among themselves. Xula’ takes place whenever a project is undertaken, such as house construction or land preparation. A personal initiative is embraced as a collective responsibility.
Students in class.
Some of these young campesinos have graduated or are currently studying for a technical or bachelor’s degree in Rural Development through the Ixil University, a part of FUNDAMAYA. The university uses an alternative model that seeks to embrace Ixil indigenous thinking and works within a participatory, communitarian, and critical methodology. Ancestral practices, such as the Xula’, are encouraged by the university as good practices for their students.
Elias Solis was one of the first to graduate from the rural development program and explained, “Through Xula’ not only work, but also knowledge is exchanged. Xula’ also makes work more fun. Agricultural work doesn’t need to necessarily contradict formal education. One should always have a machete, a hoe, and a notebook at hand.”
Working in Xula’
The unconventional methodology of the Ixil University challenges western educational models. The university prioritises oral tradition over written and within its curriculum, promotes the ancestral knowledge born of that same land. Students engage in extensive fieldwork and research in their own communities, with the elders and Indigenous authorities as their principle sources of information. Students also learn by doing, as the one of the university requirements is community service once a week.
Pablo Ceto, the Ixil University rector explains, “In the conventional system, students consult the internet for their homework or research. But in our case, we belong to communities that don’t even appear in Google. The university values conversation and our facilitators are trained to make students speak. As Ixiles, we need to recover the right to speak. Graduates with a Bachelor Degree from the Ixil University are agents that help create solutions and are able to discuss public policy with any minister or authority.”
Without a doubt, students of the Ixil University have learnt to use their right to speak. My most tangible example was when I attended a beauty pagent in the T’zalbal community to commemorate Independence Day. One of the candidates, Feliciana Herrera (who we effusively supported with signs), a current Ixil University student, used her participation in the competition to offer a speech where she questioned what “Independence” could mean for the Mayan Ixil people in Guatemala. With the phrase, “independence for only some,” Fely ended her speech.
The Mayan Ixil people have experienced a severe history from the moment of colonization, followed with the death of more than 200,000 people during the armed conflict in the 1980s, and that history continues to be reflected today through the transnational operations of business that exploit the natural resources of the area without adequate community consultation. Said consultation is a right under the Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. “Civilization came to us with the sword of Pedro de Alvarado.” recounted Ceto.
Learning tour to visit the hydro-electical projects of Xacbal y Xacbal Delta.
To deal with this scenario, the Ixil Univeristy is responsible for training: “Young people who change the situation and who are concerned for their communities, who do not only receive a degree and then head to the outside world. Training is around three themes: natural resource administration (community management of the populations’ common goods); food, with agriculture as the foundation of the Mayan civilization; and young people with the knowledge of Mayan Ixil law, along with national and international law,” says Ceto.
A university that seeks to reverse a traditional model encounters both victories and challenges. Among the victories, the Ixil University has been consolidated as a member of the Intercultural Universities Network. Also, there is a process in place for the faculty of the Agronomy of the San Carlos University of Guatemala to recognize the rural development program of the Ixil University. Among the challenges yet to overcome are the stigma of being a university that “subverts order”, and the lack of operational resources.
Today, the Ixil Univesrity is consolidated as an institution that promotes the identity and worldview of an Indigenous group that fights against educational hegemony and uses the right to speak as a liberating light. Paulo Freire, the Brazilin thinker said, “It is necessary to develop a pedagogy of the question. We are always listening to a pedagogy of the answer. Professors respond to questions that their students have not asked.”
Feliciana, along with 120 other students, continue to learn under a ¨pedagogy of the question,” as young Mayan Ixiles capable of speaking, critiquing and proposing.
Learning about medicinal plants and making a shampoo.