The emergence of the third space

Intercultural education and Tzotzil families in Leon, Guanajuato

Abstract

This research presents the management of a non-formal educational space for Tzotzil migrant children in León, Guanajuato. From this experience, the phenomenon of indigenous pendular migration that takes place in this city is considered. These temporary displacements are intended to generate an economic income for these indigenous communities and to maintain contact with the culture from which they come; however, these experiences not only pose dilemmas from the paradigm of interculturality but also from the jurisdictional point of view, since Mexico -being made up of diverse cultures- coexists with multiple normative orders. For this reason, many native peoples have found in temporary migration and informal employment a way to gain autonomy from the practices of the Mexican State; in spite of this, their labor activity may be penalized, since their notion of education is not represented in the country’s institutions either. Their capacity for agency, therefore, is reduced; it is necessary, in order to help expand it, to defend the rights of children who move away from the imposed patterns. This is the purpose of pedagogical praxis in everyday informal spaces.