Intercultural bilingual educational policies for transnational Indigenous communities: School experiences of the Wichí-Weenhayek people on the Argentinean-Bolivian border

ABSTRACT

Utilizing Ruiz’s (1984, 1995) language orientation and language policy work, this ethnographic study compared two intercultural bilingual education (IBE) schools located in two Wichí-Weenhayek communities on both sides of the Argentinean-Bolivian border. We examined Wichí-Weenhayek and non-Indigenous teachers’ profiles, teacher-student interactions, and school-community relations. Findings showed that Wichí-Weenhayek teachers in Argentina played only teacher-aid roles and were unable to promote the Wichí language as resource. Although the Wichí-Weenhayek teachers in Bolivia taught in both languages and were in charge of instruction, these teachers did not have enough pedagogical training or materials to meet the language-as-right and language-as-resource goals of their IBE program. Regarding teacher-students interactions, the non-Indigenous teachers in Argentina used a teacher-centered model of instruction, while in Bolivia, teachers commonly interacted with their students using Wichí and employed more student-centered strategies. Finally, the school-community relationship in Argentina only happened in school because the non-Indigenous principal and teachers did not live in the same town as their students. In Bolivia, on the other hand, children and families commonly interacted with their Wichí-Weenhayek teachers inside and outside the school because all of them lived in the same town. Implications for the development of IBE programs that serve transnational Indigenous communities are discussed here.