NEW: Re-Existence – Indigenous in the Urban Rural Divide – 2025

Overview

Purpose: Indigenous youth in Latin America deserve the opportunity to receive a comprehensive education. An education that is also contextual and situated. The circumstances of their birth, wealth, ethnicity, and oppression by society should not limit their ability to experience the joy of learning at their own pace and without limits. In addition to the partner organizations, we work with Indigenous leaders, elders, researchers, teachers, parents, and the community. We focus our work on Arhuaco and Kogi indigenous of Sierra Nevada in Santa Marta, Colombia, the Elder Brothers.

The Elder Brothers are descendants of the Tayrona, which dates back to 200 AD, when an advanced civilization built many stone structures and pathways throughout Sierra Nevada, leaving behind stunning gold, artwork, stone, and pottery artifacts. They represent the most complete surviving civilization of pre-Colombian America. As a settler society, their fields have been cultivated continuously for over a thousand years. The Kogi believe in ‘Aluna’ or ‘The Great Mother,’ who they think is the force behind nature. The Arhuaco and Kogi only wear traditional white clothing, as they believe white represents the Great Mother and nature’s purity (the color of snow on the tip of the Sierra Nevada). They say that “little brother’s” devastation, exploitation, and misappropriation of resources are weakening Aluna. The Kogi community says they are keeping the world in balance by living in harmony with the environment and, understandably, fear interference from the outside world. They based their lifestyles on the understanding that the Earth is a living being and see humanity as its “children.” The Kogi believe that they must help prolong and protect life on Earth. This is their message as the Elder Brothers.

We form in-depth partnerships rather than simply supplying technology transfers. We find ways to recognize how these communities re-exist in the rural-urban divide and how we can learn from them as to balance our relationship with mother earth.

Public education according to the Colombian Constitution must include and respect cultural diversity and Repurpose IT has been working with indigenous (intercultural) schools in the region toward this goal for almost a decade.

Community Partnership(s)

Duke Engage Colombia works with our partner organizations, REPURPOSE-IT, YOSOKWI colectivo indigena (Arhuco Film Collective), and ASOARHUACO.

• Repurpose-IT’s mission is to lead Indigenous youth across the digital divide – transforming education and conserving cultural heritage. Director Ted Hein, who founded the organization in part due to his belief in our obligation to reuse “obsolete” computers in a socially responsible manner rather than recycling them, will be on-site throughout the DukeEngage program.
• Yosokwi’s mission is to tell the stories of contemporary rural and urban indigenous of Tayrona descent, their ways of living, and their struggles to maintain their cultures and the health of mother earth (Aluna).
• Asoahuaco’s mission is to promote and develop sustainable projects to commercialize local products (coffee, cacao, panela, crafts) to benefit Indigenous families in the basins of the Aracataca, Fundación and Don Diego rivers near Santa Marta.

While in Colombia, DukeEngage students will focus on two main projects:

1. Accelerating Ethnoeducational transformation using technology. Students will develop a reusable lesson plan that integrates appropriate Repurpose-IT laptop content. The lesson will be brought to life in a teacher workshop later in the program. Various day trips to intercultural schools will bring DukeEngage students into the classroom, getting feedback, revising, and publishing eco-pedagogic materials. Developing intradisciplinary lesson plans is recommended, and we seek to use culturally relevant content whenever possible.
2. Using multimedia technology for Re-existence of indigenous culture. Partnering with YOSOKWI indigenous film collective, short films will be produced using Repurpose IT laptops. Technologies such as computers, smartphones, and the internet are catalysts in accelerating the extinction of indigenous languages and cultures. The same technologies that threaten these cultures can be put to good use to conserve them. Working with indigenous youth in the urban center of Santa Marta, and guided by mamos (the Elder Brothers), the project participants will help further the re-existence of indigenous ancestral knowledge and technology using multimedia and information technology.

Program Requirements

Skills (Project 1): Interest in education, technology, sustainability, eco-pedagogy. Intermediate or better written and spoken Spanish will be needed.

Skills (Project 2): Experience with multimedia content creation, such as drawing, Photoshop, documentary video, animations, and editing. Intermediate or better written and spoken Spanish is helpful but not essential.

Personal Qualities (all): Creative, tolerant, and open (to other cultures, languages, and worldviews), adaptive (to time constraints, local situations, challenging resources), kind, respectful, and with a sense of purpose, endurance, and adventure.

Logistics

Housing, meals, and transportation:

• We will work in Santa Marta, Colombia, where Repurpose-IT operates with a partnership with the Arhuaco and Kogi communities.
• Participants will arrive in Bogotá for weeklong introduction and preparation sessions to get to know local partners and prepare for fieldwork. We will also have several cultural immersion opportunities in museums, national parks, and local communities.
• In Santa Marta, students will live in modern accommodations in two groups in a residential area of the city with access to amenities (grocery stores, restaurants, etc.). Daily meetings will take place at a central location of the city (using public transportation). Several daily trips will be organized to visit intercultural schools, get to know teachers, indigenous students, and leaders working on the topics of the engagement.

Local safety, security, and cultural norms: We encourage students who have questions or concerns about health or safety in international programs to check Duke’s International SOS (ISOS) portal for relevant information. If you have special needs related to health, culture, disability, or religious practices, please contact the program director(s) or the DukeEngage office to discuss whether your needs can be accommodated in this program.

For guidance on how race, religion, sexual/gender identity, ability, or other aspects of identity might impact your travels, we suggest exploring the Diversity, Identity and Global Travel section of the DukeEngage website.

Academic Connections

This program is open to all and might especially appeal to students taking courses in environmental studies, cultural anthropology, sociology, education, visual studies (documentary studies and arts of the moving image), computer sciences, public policy, comparative studies, history, and business and management.  Students who participate in this program might go on to pursue environmental studies, ICS, Latin American Studies, environmental justice, Documentary Studies, education, markets and management, history, etc.