The interface between global hegemony and cultural marginalization : agency, education and development among indigenous peoples

Abstract

This thesis seeks to conceptualize an educational process that would allow Indigenous peoples to engage in a truly endogenous development, in which the elements of their ways of life that are most important and central to them are preserved and developed through their own agency and resistance, while the elements they think worthwhile of the hegemonic system which attempts to assimilate them, often destructively, through its development models, especially its associated educational models, may be selectively incorporated into their society on indigenous terms and subordinated to their own endogenous development agenda. The research will proceed on the basis of a comparative study of three cases: the Karretjiemense of the Great Karoo of South Africa, the Maori people of New Zealand, and the comprehensive policy of the Bolivian government ("plurinationalism") regarding autonomous Indigenous groups. By researching and discussing these three cases, the key features of turangawaewae, noetic spaces, revalorization, and the middle ground as educational process consistent with a truly endogenous development with clear objectives and operational guidelines will be formulated.