Conceptual and institutional frames in the history of bilingual education in Mexico. Reflections on indigenous education in the Chiapas Highlands in the fifties

Abstract:

From the description of the educational project of the first Indigenista Coordinating Center in the Chiapas Highlands, I show that the notion of bilingual education and the proposal to unify the educational system for the indigenous population in Mexico had antecedents since the early 1950s. I analyze how the semantic shifts of the concepts and ideological contents of ‘bilingual education’ and ‘educational unification’ determined different teaching and teacher training practices in 1954 and 1964. I study the institutional struggles between the indigenistas anthropologist and linguists with officials of educational agencies in Chiapas. Finally, I propose that, as result of political and ideological tensions the use of 'indigenous language' was coined as another conceptual notion that requires a renewed analytical gaze.

Keywords:
indigenism; bilingual education; indigenous education; conceptual history; Chiapas Highlands