Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE) Policies and Indigenous Language Teaching in School: Reflections from Mexico and Argentina

Abstract

Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE) has become the educational policy for Indigenous communities in Latin America. Each state has adapted this policy to reflect its own historical context and tradition of interethnic relations. Consequently, the ways in which IBE is interpreted and implemented have varied. This article aims to compare the definitions of IBE in Mexican and Argentine educational policies. In particular, we are interested in analysing the role of Indigenous languages and cultures in IBE schools. In other words, we propose comparing the regulatory framework in Mexico and Argentina, as well as the ethnographic experiences that reflect the place assigned to Indigenous languages, such as the Ch’ol language and culture in Mexico and the Toba/Qom language in Argentina.