Higher education in the wichí communities in the northeast of Salta

Abstract

This article delves into the experiences of young people from wichí communities in the northeast of the province of Salta as they are approached by a team of university extension. An attempt is made to assess how the presence of university extension programs in indigenous communities has oriented, over the last years, a particular and historical relation between university and indigenous peoples on the basis of which some socioeducational dynamics are redefined. In some experiences of university extension with indigenous communities, insofar as knowledge transfer and co-production are promoted, we can observe the emergence of ways of accessing higher education that are distinct than those expected by educational policies and especially universities. Taking as a case study the relation between a university extension program of the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata and a group of young people from wichí communities studying there, this article sets out to assess the implications of these experiences to the socioterritorial space of the communities at stake and how they open new educational horizons for these populations.