Guarani education in an intercultural context: the value of reviving the memories and teachings of ancestral wisdom

Abstract

This article is situated within the horizon of South America - also known as Abya Yala - as part of an ongoing research journey that engages with the thought of Deep America. Based on lived experiences and attentive listening among the Mbyá Guarani people, particularly in territories across Brazil and Argentina, it seeks to understand Indigenous education as a lived experience rooted in ancestry, spirituality, and the relationship with the land. The reflection is inspired through the words of indigenous intellectuals, which calls attention to the value of Guarani existence and, with it, the re-existence of ancestral memories and teachings. It becomes evident that, beyond resistance, this is an active process of cultural recreation, in which knowledge, rituality, and everyday life are intertwined. In this context, education is not limited to schooling but is constituted as an integral practice of living. By challenging hegemonic Western-based models, Indigenous knowledge opens possibilities for rethinking the epistemological foundations of education, pointing toward intercultural pathways grounded in reciprocity, listening, and the plurality of ways of knowing.