Intercultural education and language valorization: initiatives of an Indigenous intercultural teacher education program in the Amazon

Abstract

This article examines how the education of Indigenous teacher-researchers (professores pesquisadores-indígenas) contributes to language strengthening, drawing on experiences from the Indigenous Intercultural Teacher Education Program at the Federal University of Amapá in Oiapoque, Brazil. It discusses how integrating teacher education, language documentation, and the development of educational resources can enable schools to act as catalysts for language revitalization initiatives addressing community needs. The approach involves systematizing and analyzing initiatives undertaken since 2017 through the status, corpus, and acquisition dimensions of language planning, considering training activities, community discussions, resources produced, and Indigenous researchers’ accounts. For Kheuól do Uaçá, key outcomes include the consolidation of distinct orthographies for the Karipuna and Galibi-Marworno varieties, the development of metalinguistic terminology, the publication of instructional and supplementary books, and the creation of multimedia dictionaries, followed by the ongoing development of writing materials. For Kali’na, outcomes include researcher training, the creation of a collection of oral recordings, the development of a proposed orthography, and the expansion of the language’s presence in the school curriculum. These experiences highlight the need to integrate oral and written practices, respect community ways of transmitting knowledge, and adapt learning objectives and teaching practices to students’ language proficiency. The article concludes that educating teacher-researchers supports the investigation of local language issues and the development of responses connecting schools, universities, and communities. Sustaining these efforts requires institutional support and expanded opportunities for language use.