ABSTRACT:
Indigenous people have claimed access and permanence to the university environment. This article aims to analyze the presence of indigenous people in the academy, as well as to understand how these students have been conquering this territory. To collect the data, we used the official figures available in INEP's Statistical Synopsis of Higher Education, as well as on-site research at the Academic Control Departments of the HEIs in the state of Amapá (Brazil). We therefore worked with national data and tried to contrast it with the reality of indigenous people attending higher education in Amapá state. In addition, bibliographical research was also used to establish the theoretical basis already built up on the subject. The article reveals that in the last 12 years, the presence of indigenous students in Brazilian universities has intensified. Official records show that Indigenous people are increasingly accessing higher education, and this has led to some creative unfolding for the university. One of these unfoldings is the necessary reflection on recreating the academic space in the light of Indigenous perspectives and knowledge. In other words, in addition to the physical presence in universities (which has been revolutionary), it is also necessary for the Academy to open up to the ancestral knowledge of the indigenous world/culture. It is understood in this study that it is this achievement of conception that Indigenous people are also demanding from the academic space.
Keywords:
Indigenous people; University; Indigenous university students