Mountain pathways

Intercultural higher education, indigenous communities, and employment in Veracruz, Mexico

Abstract

The objective of this article is to discuss the current relationship between the Mexican State, the capitalist market, and indigenous peoples in Mexico, based on an ethnographic study on the work experiences of graduates from the Intercultural University of Veracruz (uvi). In this sense, work experiences are analyzed and their testimonies are compared with those of employers, providing empirical information analyzed from an intercultural perspective to understand the contemporary complexity of the relationship between the State, the market, and indigenous peoples. 

This study also allows for an evaluation of the educational proposal of an intercultural university in Mexico, which enables a reconsideration of higher intercultural education in its connection with the State and the market. Among the main findings, it is identified that uvi graduates have not experienced a work model characterized by job stability, social security, and pensions, even those who have had successful work experiences. What is observed is the formation of a group of actors with educational and political principles aligned with the uvi’s educational approach, which shows openness to offering employment to graduates of a formative proposal with an intercultural focus. 

This information provides insights into the connections between the social structures of interest in this work, showing a State’s openness to discourses and actors that were previously marginal, the emergence of social and community alternatives through synergies between university and society, and the development of intercultural competencies in uvi graduates. 

Finally, the main conclusions of the study help answer questions such as: Have uvi graduates developed their competencies outside the capitalist market? Or have they contributed to creating social alternatives in their communities? Showing the complexity of a historically relevant current phenomenon.