Higher education as a demand and as a resource in dispute in interethnic spaces. An analysis at Salta Wichí communities

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to produce some reflections about higher education demands that of-the wichí communities at the Salta´s province. These demands are inscribed into the set educational claims proposing by Latin American indigenous social movements for the pluri-ethnic and pluri-linguistic conditions recognition of our country. In addition, it should be understood in relation to the impact of current economic extractive production that has been implemented in the territories where the populations live. In this way, we analyze first the claims of access to higher education in relation to the processes of disputes and territorial reconfigurations that cross these populations because of the current extractive model developed in the northeast region of the Salta´s province. Second, understanding that this context has summoned new social actors into that space (teams research and extension, NGOs, foundations, state agents) which from their participatory practices rewire the social space, we analyze in which way they are involved in the demands configuration, and how they contribuit in structuring practices that make possible the conditions for access to higher education in these populations.