by Macarena Montero Lobos
This is PART IV of the “Exploring Latin American contributions to education” series. All parts consist of a blog conversation and a video intervention. This part starts off with a conversation between Macarena and Vanessa Andreotti.
If you haven’t read the other parts start here.
Vanessa Andreotti is the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria in Canada. She holds a PhD in Education and Critical Theory and Cultural Studies from the University of Nottingham, UK, a Master’s in Educational Technology from the University of Manchester, UK, and a Bachelor’s in Education from the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil. Dr. Andreotti is a former Canada Research Chair in Race, Inequalities and Global Change as well as a former David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education. She is the author of Hospicing Modernity: Facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism (2021) and one of the co-founders of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (GTDF) Arts/Research Collective. Most of her published articles and OpEds are available at academia.edu.
Universities are on uncertain ground. Before the advent of the internet, universities held a monopoly on knowledge production, generating millions of articles each year. However, only 2% of these articles are cited, and only around 10% are read by more than the reviewers. Yet, the system remains unchanged.
My conversation with Vanessa Andreotti occurred within this context. As the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria, she reflects on the future of academia and the potential scenarios it may face. Vanessa believes that this crisis is interconnected with the various crises humanity is currently confronting—social, ecological, and especially psychological. She argues that it is crucial to reflect and incorporate wise changes to adapt for a better world, learning from the failures.
According to Vanessa, western education should be open to different forms of knowledge, learning from non-Western communities to bring them together and take the best of each. Indigenous peoples have developed sophisticated knowledge in different areas which is based on the principle of interconnection because we are part of a whole, and what we do to others, we do to ourselves. However, Western sciences and technologies are based on the principle of separation between humans and nature, which have been useful for building things, but also for destroying and advancing violence, risking life in the future. Then, universities and academia must recognise they are being part of the problem.
In partnership with the Huni Kui people of Acre, in the Amazon region of Brazil, Vanessa, along with the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Arts/Research Collective, developed a website that metaphorically presents the knowledge of the Huni Kui people for the people in the Global North, contributing to the learning of a different worldview. The University of the Forest is an ancient practice of the Huni Kui people, where they come together to share songs, practices, and knowledge, passing their culture down from generation to generation.
Given that this knowledge is not merely mental content but a lived experience, the website organises the information by drawing a parallel between the traditional university structure and the functioning of The University of the Forest, to translate its most relevant aspects for an external audience. In this way, the president of The University of the Forest is represented by the Samauma Tree, the provost by the Anaconda and the Harpy Eagle, and the board of governance by the elders, both human and non-human. The academic calendar is organised around seasonal events, and examinations are based on contributions to the collective, which must demonstrate collaboration and coordination between species.
Similarly, the faculties and disciplines at The University of the Forest are framed around ideas that have been overlooked in conventional Western universities: Respect, Reverence, Reciprocity, Responsibility, and Regeneration. These faculties encompass not only knowledge but also capacities. Then, for example, is the faculty to be respectful towards the wider ecology. With this, the values that are important to the Huni Kui people are clearly established, with knowledge at the centre of environmental harmony, which includes humanity. Therefore, this approach embodies a model of education tied to an alternative model of progress.
Another fundamental pillar of The University of the Forest is the relational principle. This concept challenges colonialism at a deeper level by suggesting that the subjugation of people and land occupation are merely surface manifestations. Colonialism, at its core, is rooted in the separation of people from each other and from the land, ultimately devaluing life itself. Thus, the collapse we face is not only external but also internal, at a psychological level. Then, the University of the Forest believes that education should equip us to navigate the decline of the current Western and modern system with greater emotional sobriety, relational maturity, intellectual discernment, and intergenerational responsibility.
As part of this paradigm shift, there is a need to move away from a narrowly bounded intelligence—characterised by linear thinking, singular answers, and a focus on maximisation and profit orientation, where every relationship is transactional. Instead, we should embrace a broader intelligence that recognises multiple accountabilities, understands the complexity and interconnectedness of the world, and values coordination and collaboration with others.
To develop this broader intelligence and heal the disease of separation, the Huni Kui people emphasise the importance of fostering wisdom, which they refer to as Yuxibu. Yuxibu embodies quantum energy and a consciousness that recognises life in every particle, acknowledging the interconnectedness of all things. In this view, wisdom is the awareness of the mystery of the whole. As a collective, we must cultivate this wide-boundary intelligence, recognising that everything is entangled and interdependent. However, as human beings cannot fully inhabit this space and only have access to a part of it, education should strive to foster this connection to address the crises we face.
It is notable how this wisdom fundamentally diverges from our established practices in mainstream or conventional universities, seeking to reconnect, integrate, and mend the divisions that have resulted in disorientation and exploitation among individuals. In this regard, according to Vanessa, education should foster more introspective learning, as she notes that Western universities tend to offer “a lot of study abroad, but little internal exploration.” This observation resonated deeply with me, as it precisely reflects what this master’s project (“Exploring Latin American contributions to education”) has enabled me to do: to explore my inner self and reconnect with my roots, allowing me to conduct this work in a manner that integrates my territory and history. It is for this reason that I have allowed myself to create this series of videos and blogs about those elements that have been excluded because they do not conform to hegemonic standards. Discussing topics such as natural cycles, emotions, and connection with the land are, then, some of the aspects that have been obscured by a reductionist and colonial notion of development. Therefore, incorporating these values into my final master’s project is a way of honouring and recognising the oppressed communities from which I also come.
In response, The University of the Forest emphasises educational processes that are not solely accessed through cognition but also through the body. By contemplating the whole from a bodily perspective, a new process emerges, providing a deeper connection to knowledge and wisdom. Consequently, from this perspective education is understood as a holistic process in which knowledge must be digested, metabolised, and internally processed in order to be truly embodied. Western universities, however, often promote an education that is imposed from the outside. This is why, in the video I shared in the first blog, I discussed the importance of considering the body in the process of learning and connecting with life. It is crucial to become aware of how we perceive ourselves and to what extent we are allowing—or not allowing—the integration of the body in our relationships with ourselves, with others, and with non-human beings. Likewise, the creation of the artistic content involved a deep learning process that engaged my entire being. After I had fully integrated the knowledge, I was able to share it honestly, expressing the insights that were emerging in my own words, emotions and joy.
To conclude, many advocate for respect and reciprocity; however, the prevailing progress paradigm remains deeply competitive, individualistic, and arrogant. It is inevitable to imagine how the world might transform if more students were exposed to The University of the Forest. At the same time, it is perplexing why, despite the vast array of available wisdom, there persists an insistence on a model of living that urgently requires re-evaluation. Societies that have prospered at the expense of other territories must adopt a holistic and ecological perspective, recognising that human well-being is intrinsically linked to the planet’s health. Consequently, education needs a new approach to cultivate wise and sensitive individuals, with educators committed to education as a truly liberating force.