About
The Transnational Research Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge (TreCIK) is a consortium dedicated to the study, development, and dissemination of indigenous knowledge that embraces interculturality at a regional and global scale. The TReCIK’s objective is to make a contribution to knowledge from an indigenous perspective and offer an alternative vision for more equitable and ecological societies based on the dialogue among indigenous groups from around the world. The TreCIK will be composed of a network of local centres and academic partners that will play the role of nodes through which knowledge is circulated and re-elaborated, from the ground up.
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The TReCIK will have three main areas:
- Curriculum Development
- Research & Global Partnerships
- Library & Archive
Curriculum Development
Different from Western forms of pedagogy based on abstract reasoning, indigenous pedagogy starts from lived experience and a critical vision of the current dominant paradigm. It is aimed not at competition and profit but at transforming reality to enable the carrying out of life plans and ‘good living,’ in harmony with nature, as part of shared ecosystems. From different cosmologies and pedagogical practices, the TReCIK will develop a distinct indigenous pedagogical method. Since indigenous pedagogy is elaborated in a dialogical manner, considering context, culture, lived experience, and a vision of collaborative thinking and collective action, the first task is to systematize a pedagogical indigenous method able to accommodate diversity within a common vision of people’s empowerment, wellbeing, and respect for nature.
To elaborate this curriculum, the TReCIK will be bringing together indigenous educators from different indigenous communities to share their experiences and pedagogical methods and construct together the basic foundations for forming indigenous educators. This group will be part of a growing network of indigenous educators who will play a key advisory role, in a rotating basis, to accompany the development of the pedagogical program and its implementation and revision. This program, as well as future academic curricula dedicated to specific topics (for example indigenous medicine, law, and forms of organisation) will be offered in collaboration with partners, national and international universities. Each of these curricula will be elaborated using a dialogue-based method in which delegates from diverse indigenous groups participate periodically in a rotating basis.
Research & Global Partnerships
The TReCIK will foster knowledge and research exchange with indigenous and non-indigenous universities and other educational institutions by providing academic programs, visiting research positions, support for publishing research, and developing audio-visual material from research outputs for mass audience with translation into indigenous languages to allow for impact within indigenous communities.
Library & Archive
The TReCIK aims at elaborating knowledge that emanates from previous and current knowledge and practices. Therefore, a central aim is to set up a library and an archive to store indigenous knowledge and allow for future research and global exchange, as well as to partner with archives and museums with dedicated collections to indigenous knowledge and artifacts.
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The Transnational Research Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge is meant to operate as a global network of local indigenous centres that will provide support to education and research institutions and construct a network of indigenous scholars and educators. Local centres will be conveyor belts bringing academic needs and knowledge to the TReCIK, promoting reform and new ways of thinking, allowing for delegates to learn from the global exchange and return this knowledge back to their local communities.
The TReCIK has a hybrid governance structure with members of the founding international academic network led by University of St. Andrews, other officers and experts, and delegates from indigenous communities in a rotating basis. The TReCIK will have specialized subcommittees to elaborate academic curricula and research projects that will integrate this hybrid structure.
With its headquarters at the University of St. Andrews, the TReCIK’s decisions are coordinated by three founding members: Professor Mario I. Aguilar (Director at the University of St. Andrews), Dr Camila Vergara (Co-Founder, University of Essex), and Dr Ann Simpson (Co-Founder, University of St. Andrews) in consultation with academic partners and an international advisory board.
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The TReCIK will establish two local centres in Bogota, Colombia, and Chiapas, Mexico to begin elaborating a program in indigenous pedagogy with indigenous educators from Latin America. The goal is to have a centre in each country, with the support of local indigenous communities and universities, connected in a network with a global governance structure.
In Bogota the TReCIK would have as potential partners the ONIC (National Indigenous Organisation), the Banco de la República (cultural section), including the Museo del Oro, and the Universidad Libre. In Chiapas the TReCIK would have as potential partners the indigenous Maya communities and Zapatista educators, and the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
