Normalistas-Teachers and Coloniality of Power in Mexico

Abstract

This paper examines how the work of normalista-teachers in Mexico illuminates what Lucio Cabañas Barrientos termed the ‘new colonial system’ in 1972. There exists an ideological hegemony which asserts that colonialism ended in most Latin American nations, including Mexico, by the first decade of the nineteenth century. However, as this paper argues, the experiences of normalista-teachers demonstrate that colonialism is far from a relic of the past. Drawing upon the concepts of hegemony and coloniality of power, this study explores how normalista-teachers challenge the notion of ‘modernity’ and the myth of a bygone colonial era. It focuses primarily on the specific cases of teachers Margarita Chávez, Salvador Hernández, Antonio Gaytán, María Mendoza, José Lundez Martínez, Hernández, Ibarra, Elena Torres, Del Palacio, and Montiel. Additionally, it examines the social movements and guerrilla groups led by Genaro Vásquez Rojas and Lucio Cabañas Barrientos. This holds significant weight for critical pedagogy. If, through their lives and work, normalista-teachers are able to reveal how material and symbolic inequalities rooted in colonialism continue to shape Mexico, then this suggests they are not merely educators, but rather epistemic providers of critical pedagogy from a Latin American perspective.

KEYWORDS:

• normalistas-teachers
• coloniality of power
• Mexico
• Latin America

Acknowledgements

The author is very grateful to Celia del Palacio and the reviewers for their comments and suggestions

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Mexican economy was attractive to neoliberal foreign capital because of the existence of cheap labor and abundant natural resources. The consequences of thirty-five years of neoliberalism was the increase of poverty which added to an external demand for drugs created a Mexican state infiltrated by those external capitals of the drug business, which created a narco-state (Solís González 2013).

2 For example, these reforms established a teacher evaluation system. This punitive system of teacher evaluation perpetuates the modern colonial myth of meritocracy based on individualistic competition. The contents of such exams prioritize individualistic educational competencies among students, rather than promoting cooperation and solidarity. Also see (Bartlet and Ilizaliturri Benavides 2016).

3 Normalistas-teachers are pre-service and in-service teachers who graduated from public teacher training colleges called “Normales” which were created after the Mexican revolution of 1910. Normales still are the main teacher training colleges in Latin America to train teachers. Normalistas-teachers usually come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and families.

4 See Lenin (1966) and Gruppi (1970: 206–220).

5 At that time the schools were also called "houses of the peoples" because they were also intended to be centers of community activity.

6 I am not showing the complete manifesto in its original version for due to space limitations in this article. The original version was published in Spanish in the newspaper Revolution in March 1972.

7 Genaro Vásquez Rojas and Lucio Cabañas also graduated from that Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School, better known as the Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School in Guerrero, Mexico. The normalistas-students were victims of enforced disappearance on September 26, 2014 in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. This was one of the worst tragedies since the Tlatelolco Massacre in 1968 and drew international attention and condemnation.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Raul Olmo Fregoso Bailón

Raul Olmo Fregoso Bailón is a former normalista-teacher. Assistant Professor of Equity and Diversity in Education, Department of Educational Studies, University of Nevada, Reno. He is member of the International Advisory Committee of the UNESCO Chair in Democracy, Global Citizenship and Transformative Education and his scholarship has either been published or is forthcoming in edited collections, including Handbook of Theory and Research in Cultural Studies and Education (Springer), Keywords in Radical Philosophy and Education (Brill) and journals such as Bilingual Research Journal, Revista Historia de la Educación Latinoamericana, Policy Futures in Education, Contextualizaciones Latinoamericanas, Revista Tempos e Espaços em Educação, and other forums.