ABSTRACT. Intercultural education seeks to create a forum for integrating Western scientific knowledge and indigenous knowledge to address local and global challenges such as biocultural diversity conservation, natural resource management, and social justice for indigenous peoples. Intercultural education is based on learning together with, rather than learning about or from, indigenous communities. In the best examples, problem-based learning dissolves the dichotomy between indigenous and nonindigenous, resulting in full partnerships in which participants share expertise to meet mutual needs. With reference to literature and two illustrative examples of intercultural education initiatives in Mexico and Tanzania, we present an original conceptual framework for assessing indigenous participation in intercultural education. This incorporates a new ladder of participation depth (in relation to both curriculum content and decision making) alongside separate considerations of breadth, i.e., stakeholder diversity, and scope, i.e., the number of key project stages in which certain stakeholder groups are participating. The framework can be used to compare intercultural education initiatives in differing contexts and might be adaptable to other intercultural work.
This article discusses the potential of coupling participatory action research (PAR) with agroecological principles to address food insecurity in indigenous communities. It argues that combining these two approaches can lead to culturally and environmentally appropriate, context-oriented strategies to empower community members and strengthen community food sovereignty and food security. This article draws on a recent study of Mayan communities in the Yucatán State, Mexico, and demonstrates the strengths of an agroecologically focused PAR approach in addressing local challenges faced by rural communities in their struggle to become food sovereign and secure, but its weakness when it comes to influencing policy overarching structures threatening community food sovereignty.
Chaya (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius ssp. aconitifolius Breckon) is a fastgrowing, semi-perennial, and semi-woody Mesoamerican euphorbiaceous. It is used as a leafy green vegetable and prevailingly cropped in tropical savanna climate. However, cropping of chaya is possible in both dryer and more humid climates. Although the crop has its origin in the Maya region of Southeast Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, chaya is popular throughout Mesoamerica. Due to its high nutritional value, cooked chaya leaves are an essential ingredient of the diet of Maya communities, especially in Southeast Mexico. Chaya is also used as an ornamental plant, for forage, and in traditional Maya medicine, where it is used to cure a wide range of diseases such as diabetes, kidney problems, arteriosclerosis, gallstones, and high cholesterol. Chaya can be called a semi-domesticated plant: Apart from wild chaya, there are four chaya varieties, whose grade of domestication varies from cropped almost wild phenotypes to entirely domesticated: 'Chayamansa,' 'Redonda,' 'Estrella,' and 'Picuda.'
Fermented leaf fertilizers (FLF) are made of anaerobically fermented plant and/or animal resources and principally used for foliar plant nutrition, as they provide a quick nutrient supply, especially of micronutrients. Their use is most common in horticultural production as a complementary measure to organic basal fertilization in the case of nutrient deficiencies. Since FLF are commonly made of farm residues, their formulation varies according to the available resources and the treated crops. The most common raw materials are cattle manure, cow milk, cane molasses, and water. Within Latin America, the production of FLF is popular with smallholders. Most of these farmers produce them on-farm using adapted plastic barrels as fermenters. Industrial production is conceivable. FLF have been successfully tested in banana, bean, broccoli, carrot, cucumber, lettuce, maize, papaya, and spinach production. This review highlights the principles of this sustainable and promising organic fertilization strategy, emphasizing the preparation of FLF.
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