Strengthening Ancestral Knowledge and Amazonian Culture in Indigenous Educational Institutions in Colombia

Abstract

This research aims to strengthen the knowledge and tradition of ancestral wisdom within the Indigenous Amazonian communities of Colombia, preserving their cultural identity and recognising their capacity to adapt to standardised educational models through a qualitative, participatory, diverse, and multicultural approach that emphasises the role of the ethno-educator as a mediator between the school and the community, promoting pedagogical practices grounded in direct experience, ancestral oral traditions, and intergenerational guidance; to this end, strategies such as the revitalisation of native languages, agricultural practices in the ancestral chagra, nocturnal teaching-learning sessions around communal fires, intercultural knowledge workshops, and educational tradition forums were implemented, all of which strengthened collective self-esteem, ensured effective transmission of ancestral knowledge, and fostered a spiritual connection with Mother Nature; the findings demonstrate that the ethnic school consolidates as a shared space for intercultural dialogue, encouraging collective knowledge construction, appropriation of indigenous concepts, and the reinforcement of Indigenous wisdom, while promoting values such as solidarity, respect, inclusion, and territorial protection, showing that Amazonian ethnic education, based on community-rooted learning and respectful of Indigenous worldviews, contributes significantly to the conservation, revitalisation, and transmission of native cultural practices within Indigenous educational institutions in Colombia, thereby ensuring the continuity of identity and the preservation of ancestral heritage.