HEGEMONY AND INDIGENOUS EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS IN MEXICO AND BRAZIL (1940-1970)

Abstract

In this article, we present information about the programs of indigenous Indian education agencies in Brazil and Mexico between 1940 and 1970, and conduct a brief discussion of the influence of these programs in the processes of the State’s hegemony formation amplified among indigenous peoples in these countries in the period cited. In the schools of the National Indigenous Institute (INI) in Mexico, and especially in the Indian Protection Service (SPI) in Brazil, the schools emphasize the teaching of the national language in their curricula and influence the creation of the idea of a mestiza nationality, aiming to develop and integrate indigenous peoples to the nation. In both countries, religious missions attended the indigenous education, and here we highlight the work of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). In the case of Mexico, I highlight two moments of indigenism associated with indigenous education, and I emphasize the participation of bilingual cultural promoters as cultural intermediaries between indigenous institutions and communities. In the case of Brazil, teachers were non-indigenous, and their influence was more restricted.