Indigenous caregivers and indigeneity in Bogota: between two worlds

ABSTRACT

Recently, the government of Bogota (Colombia) has focused on improving Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services in a way that considers diversity. The national policy and the political project for Bogota recognise ECEC services based on a positive discrimination approach. Among them there is an indigenous ECEC service, known as House of indigenous Knowledge (HIK), staffed by Indigenous professionals. Based on ethnographic research in three HIKs this article aims to study the legitimacy of indigenous caregivers (ICs) as early childhood professionals (ECP). Using the political sociological approach of Boltanski and Thévenot On Justification, the paper aims to analyse the professionalism of ICs in terms of competing ‘regimes of actions’. It shows the importance of ICs’ implicit cultural knowledge compared to the ‘western’ ECEC practitioners’ expertise. It sheds light on what IC practice ought to be: rooted in Indigenous traditions, while at the same time, acknowledging a ‘western’ vision of ECEC professionals’ practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous children
• bogota
• indigenous caregiver
• indigenous Capital
• ECEC services

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Local mothers who choose to stay at home and take care of their children and other children from the community and are paid to do so by the families (Borda Carulla 2015).

2. Ambientes Culturalmente no Convencionales.

3. For the purpose of this article, the name of the HIKs ethnicity is kept anonymous.

4. Cosmovisión in Spanish.

5. Respectful term to address older men who carry the wisdom of their community.

6. Defined previously as the daily routines and schedules that organize daily life in ECEC services.

7. All three fields are referred as HIK 1, 2, and 3, following the description in the methodology section.

8. The word Arsenal is kept from the original in french, to highlight the variety of resources available.