Intercultural Bilingual Education in the Peruvian Andes: the silencing of the indigenous Quechua language, a consequence of the coloniality of power

Intercultural Bilingual Education in the Peruvian Andes: the silencing of the indigenous Quechua language, a consequence of the coloniality of power

Colonial power is not over. It permeates post-colonial societies, as it continues to disrupt indigenous ways of living. The silencing of specific aspects of indigenous identities, such as the Quechua language in the Peruvian Andes, is only one of its repercussions. The inherent disavowal of the indigenous Other through the endorsement of a fundamentally racist and discriminatory Peruvian education in the 20th century, has prevented the establishment of Intercultural Bilingual Education programmes to thrive amongst the Quechua Andean indigenous communities. The latter have contributed to this trend by opposing teachers who attempted to implement the education inclusive of the Quechua language and culture by widely rejecting it. The presentation will dwell on the controversial aspect of the “Peruvian Anomaly” exposing how a violent, discriminatory and racially imbued legacy has crashed a sense of self-identification with the indigenous Quechua language amongst its speakers, which has further fomented racial discrimination against the indigenous Other.

Dr. Martina Tonet works as Assistant professor and Research assistant at the Department of Anthropology, University of Primorska, Faculty of Humanities (UP - FHŠ) in Koper, Slovenia. She is currently participating as a researcher in the project Ethnography of silence(s) and CERV Re4Healing: Cross-border Remembrance, Reconnection, Restoration, and Resilience project (University of Primorska, Slovenia). Her research work includes indigenous and minority struggles in postcolonial North and South America and Europe, as well as the analysis of historical trauma in the above-mentioned communities.

This seminar is part of the "Americas in IEiAK" series.

Other meetings in the series:

• March 4, 2026, 10:30 AM, IEiAK seminar (in Polish) - Dr. Anna Przytomska " Q’eros z Andów peruwiańskich: dynamiki relacyjne w świecie więcej-niż-ludzkim " More information >> [2]
• Second half of March 2026, postcolonial seminar - Prof. Lionel Larre “The society of American Indians (1911-1923) in the history of Indigenous activism”
• April 15, 2026, 10:30, IEiAK seminar - Dr. Susana Rosales "Traditional Markets in Transition: Culture, Consumption, and the Politics of Public Space in Mexico City"