Structural and cultural barriers in the educational transition of indigenous amazonian students
Barreras estructurales y culturales en la transición educativa de estudiantes indígenas amazónicosArticle Sidebar
Main Article Content
Background: Inequalities in the educational continuity of indigenous students toward higher education represent a persistent challenge in the Peruvian Amazon. Structural and cultural barriers intertwine with subjective and community factors, limiting access, retention, and graduation within university institutions. Objective: This study analyzed the transition from secondary to higher education among indigenous youth from native communities in Lamas Province, identifying structural and cultural barriers, as well as relational facilitators that conditioned this process within its community dimension. Methods: An instrumental case study design with a qualitative interpretive-constructivist approach was employed. Eighteen participants were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and processed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Three categories emerged: structural barriers (economic, geographic, linguistic, familial, and institutional); relational facilitators (familial support, teacher support, and scholarships); and an emergent category termed "Community Life Project," which expresses the tension between individual aspirations and collective responsibilities in the Amazonian indigenous university experience. Conclusion: Educational continuity transcends the individual, manifesting as a community process that demands intercultural policies sensitive to identity, collective aspirations, and equity.
Contexto: Las desigualdades en la continuidad educativa de estudiantes indígenas hacia la educación superior constituyen un problema persistente en la Amazonía peruana. Las barreras estructurales y culturales se entrelazan con factores subjetivos y comunitarios que limitan el acceso, la permanencia y el egreso de estos jóvenes en instituciones universitarias. Objetivo: Se analizó la experiencia de transición desde la educación secundaria a la superior de jóvenes indígenas de comunidades nativas de la provincia de Lamas, identificando las barreras estructurales y culturales, así como los facilitadores relacionales que condicionaron dicho proceso en su dimensión comunitaria. Metodología: Se empleó un diseño de estudio de caso instrumental con enfoque cualitativo interpretativo-constructorista. Participaron dieciocho personas seleccionadas por muestreo intencional. Los datos se recolectaron mediante entrevistas semiestructuradas y se procesaron con análisis temático reflexivo de Braun y Clarke. Resultados: Surgieron tres categorías: barreras estructurales (económicas, geográficas, lingüísticas, familiares e institucionales), facilitadores relacionales (apoyo familiar, docente y becas) y una categoría emergente denominada Proyecto de Vida Comunitario, que expresa la tensión entre aspiraciones individuales y responsabilidades colectivas en la experiencia universitaria indígena amazónica. Conclusión: La continuidad educativa trasciende lo individual y se configura como un proceso comunitario que exige políticas interculturales sensibles a la identidad, las aspiraciones colectivas y la equidad.
Downloads
Article Details
Abanto, F. E. C., Aguilar Pichón, F. M., Flores Pérez, Y. B., Navarrete Flores, R. H., & Cruzado Saucedo, L. H. (2023). Interculturality in Peru and the process of forming an intercultural society. Journal of Namibian Studies, 34, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.59670/jns.v33i.1437
Aikman, S. (1995). Territory, indigenous education and cultural maintenance: The case of the Arakmbut of South-Eastern Peru. Prospects, 25(4), 593-608. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02334138
Aikman, S. (1999). Sustaining Indigenous languages in southeastern Peru. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2(3), 198-213. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670059908667689
Aikman, S. (2012). Interrogating discourses of intercultural education: From indigenous Amazon community to global policy arena. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 42(2), 235-257. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2012.647465
Ames, P. (2013). Constructing new identities? The role of gender and education in rural girls' life aspirations in Peru. Gender and Education, 25(3), 267-283. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2012.740448
Ames, P. (2024). Is there room for interculturality? Indigenous youth in Peruvian private universities and the scholarship programme Beca 18. Ethnography and Education, 19(3), 202-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2024.2367496
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). Greenwood Press. https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/bourdieu-forms-capital.htm
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. SAGE Publications. https://books.google.com/books?id=ujFjEAAAQBAJ
Bressan, T., Valdivia-Gago, A., Silvera-Ccallo, R. M., Llanos-Cuentas, A., Condor, D. F., Padilla-Huamantinco, P. G., Vilcarromero, S., Miranda, J. J., & Zavaleta-Cortijo, C. (2022). Challenges of design, implementation, acceptability, and potential for biomedical technologies in the Peruvian Amazon. International Journal for Equity in Health, 21(1), 183. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-022-01773-7
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press. https://khoerulanwarbk.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/urie_bronfenbrenner_the_ecology_of_human_developbokos-z1.pdf
Cavagnoud, R., & Ames, P. (2024). Persistence, retention, and interruption in higher education among Peruvian scholarship students in a context of emergency remote learning. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 32(48), 1-32. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.32.8476
Cavagnoud, R., & Ames, P. (2025). Reconfigurations of the transition to adulthood amongst first-generation students in contexts of crisis: The Peruvian experience. Journal of Youth Studies, 28(3), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2025.2575969
COPE. (2019). Core practices. Committee on Publication Ethics. https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
Crivello, G. (2011). 'Becoming somebody': Youth transitions through education and migration in Peru. Journal of Youth Studies, 14(4), 395-411. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2010.538043
Cueto, S., Guerrero, G., Sugimaru, C., & Zevallos, A. M. (2010). Sense of belonging and transition to high schools in Peru. International Journal of Educational Development, 30(3), 277-287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2009.02.002
Dean, B. (2015). Identity and Indigenous education in Peruvian Amazonia. In Indigenous education (pp. 429-446). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9355-1_21
Espinosa, O. (2015). Indigenous youth and higher education: The role of Shipibo youth organizations in the Peruvian Amazon. In Youth and inequality in education: Global actions in youth work (pp. 227-240). Routledge. https://cris.pucp.edu.pe/es/publications/indigenous-youth-and-higher-education-the-role-of-shipibo-youth-o
Flick, U. (2014). An introduction to qualitative research (5th ed.). SAGE Publications. https://es.scribd.com/document/1014128589/An-Introduction-to-Qualitative-Research-5th-Edition-Uwe-Flick-ebook-testbank-solutions-newly-updated-content
Fontana, L. B. (2019). Identity policies of education: Struggles for inclusion and exclusion in Peru and Colombia. Journal of Education Policy, 34(3), 351-373. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2018.1535092
Forero, M. B. (2023). Rural education in Peru: A study of its performance, physical and digital infrastructure, gender, linguistic background, and rurality [Master's thesis, Rollins College]. https://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls/106/
García, M. E. (2004). Rethinking bilingual education in Peru: Intercultural politics, state policy and indigenous rights. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 7(5), 348-367. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050408667819
Giambruno, C., Cardozo, J. C. H., Cossi, J., Gonsalves, M. B., & Alfaro, M. P. (2024). Education in the Amazon region. Inter-American Development Bank. https://publications.iadb.org/en/education-amazon-region
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Aldine.
Guevara-Goñas, R. E., Tongo-Alarcon, D., Ayay-Arista, G., & Cuja-Quiac, S. (2025). Impact of tablets on learning and perceptions of the Indigenous educational community of Amazonas. Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, 12(3), 365-373. https://doi.org/10.20448/jeelr.v12i3.6909
Guilherme, A., & Hüttner, É. (2015). Exploring the new challenges for indigenous education in Brazil: Some lessons from Ticuna schools. International Review of Education, 61(4), 481-501. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-015-9503-z
Johnson, K. M., & Levitan, J. (2022). Rural indigenous students in Peruvian urban higher education: Interweaving ecological systems of coloniality, community, barriers, and opportunities. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 16(1), 21-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2021.1974383
Johnson, K. M., & Levitan, J. (2026). Rural indigenous students' pathways to and through Peruvian institutos: An ecological systems analysis. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2025.2510939
Kirby, E., Tolstikov-Mast, Y., & Walker, J. L. (2020). Retention challenges for indigenous Peruvian college students on Beca 18 scholarship and strategies to improve their experiences and academic success. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 14(3), 162-176. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2020.1740980
Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2009). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications. https://books.google.com/books?id=n7DaAAAAMAAJ
Kvietok, F. J. D. (2019). Youth bilingualism, identity and Quechua language planning and policy in the urban Peruvian Andes [Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania]. https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/30301
Levitan, J. (2018). The danger of a single theory: Understanding students' voices and social justice in the Peruvian Andes. Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 120(2), 1-36. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811812000208
Levitan, J., Johnson, K., Velasquez, A., Perez, J., & Bello, S. (2026). Using community-based participatory action research to create culturally grounded education at scale: a study of systems change in Peru. Educational Action Research, 34(1), 181-200. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2025.2471838
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosn006
López, L. E. (2014). Indigenous intercultural bilingual education in Latin America: Widening gaps between policy and practice. In R. Cortina (Ed.), The education of indigenous citizens in Latin America (pp. 19-49). Routledge. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303837318_Indigenous_intercultural_bilingual_education_in_Latin_America_widening_gaps_between_policy_and_practice
Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass. https://repository.act.ac.rw/server/api/core/bitstreams/323490a5-4e3f-4cd1-ab1a-8ec2ec2e1a21/content
Moodie, N. (2016). Social capital and Indigenous Higher Education. Journal of Sociology, 52(2), 333-348. https://www.aare.net.au/publications/aare-conference-papers/show/10828/social-capital-and-indigenous-higher-education
Nemogá-Soto, G. R. (2018). Indigenous and intercultural education in Latin America: Assimilation or transformation of colonial relations. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 39(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2017.1410115
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications. https://books.google.com/books?id=bIpWQwAACAAJ
Perreault, T. (2003). Making space: Community organization, agrarian change, and the politics of scale in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Latin American Perspectives, 30(1), 96-121. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X02239146
Regalsky, P., & Laurie, N. (2007). 'The school, whose place is this'? The deep structures of the hidden curriculum in indigenous education in Bolivia. Comparative Education, 43(2), 231-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060701362482
Ruiz, Y. V., Sánchez Pantaleón, A. J., Cruz Caro, O., Meza-Mori, G., Chávez Santos, R., & Bazán Valque, R. Y. (2026). Student perspectives on quality management and intercultural education: A case study in a public university in the Amazon of Peru. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 30(3), 536-560. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2025.2467642
Saavedra, J., & Gutierrez, M. (2020). Peru: A wholesale reform fueled by an obsession with learning and equity. In F. M. Reimers (Ed.), Audacious education purposes (pp. 153-180). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41882-3_6
Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. SAGE Publications.
Trapnell, L. A. (2003). Some key issues in intercultural bilingual education teacher training programmes—as seen from a teacher training programme in the Peruvian Amazon Basin. Comparative Education, 39(2), 165-183. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060302554
Valdiviezo, L. (2009). Bilingual intercultural education in indigenous schools: An ethnography of teacher interpretations of government policy. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 12(1), 61-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050802149515
Valdiviezo, M. J. A., Alvarado, M., & Salas, M. (2021). The education system of Peru 1948–2021: From Hispanicization to neoliberalism. In The education systems of the Americas (pp. 1-33). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93443-3_29-1
Wells, R., Cuenca, R., Blanco Ramirez, G., & Aragón, J. (2018). Geographic mobility and social inequality among Peruvian university students. Higher Education, 75(3), 449-469. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0149-6
Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). SAGE Publications. https://www.scilit.com/publications/3df227eaa4948b6e3f52dc89cb47f5d7