Theoretical Approach to Interculturality:

Education and Indigenous Peoples in Paraguay

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the polysemic nature of interculturality considering anthropologists Dietz (2017) and Zanardini Guerrero (2015). The methodology adopted is descriptive. Paraguay has 21 indigenous peoples; therefore, a comprehensive dialogue of the carried identities of these individuals is required, who, in the free exercise of their rights, will be part of higher education. Contextualizing interculturality requires establishing a conceptual framework of culture, identity, diversity, pluriculturality and multiculturality. These terms appear in various literature pieces with approaches in different disciplines. Assuming culture as a complex phenomenon implies rethinking intercultural education with a perspective that does not integrate indigenous peoples based on legal imperatives. This conceptual review illuminates possible paths towards a praxis of curricular adaptations that include intercultural competencies to provide more open and flexible answers to those learning processes that favor historical memory and provide spaces for living together healthily, enriching, and nurturing humanity. Interculturality is a process that forces educational institutions to initiate this long path towards claim and dignity with the participation of the parties involved.