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Pluriversal Literacies in Colombia: Honoring Ancestral Knowledges and Land-Based Literacies in the Rural School Curricula

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Title: Pluriversal Literacies in Colombia: Honoring Ancestral Knowledges and Land-Based Literacies in the Rural School Curricula
Language: English
Authors: Tatiana Becerra-Posada (ORCID 0000-0003-3156-6907), Nancy Palacios (ORCID 0000-0003-1318-0728), Marcela Ramos
Source: Reading Research Quarterly. 7975384 2026 61(2).
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 18
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Rural Schools, Indigenous Knowledge, Literacy, Place Based Education, Secondary School Curriculum, Spanish, English (Second Language), Colonialism, School Community Relationship, Language Teachers, Secondary School Teachers, Secondary School Students
Geographic Terms: Colombia
DOI: 10.1002/rrq.70089
ISSN: 0034-0553
1936-2722
Abstract: This study examines one of the author's community-based research experiences in a rural village of the Colombian Caribbean, collaborating with teachers, students, and local leaders to learn about the local reading and meaning-making practices that community members depend on to thrive in the tropical dry forest they inhabit. These individuals, including artisans, farmers, and ancestral knowledge holders, shared sensory and ecological understandings--of smells, colors, and forms--that secondary Spanish and English language teachers later integrated into their curricula and classroom practices. Acknowledging such epistemic diversity requires educational practices that move beyond Western-centric ideals and methodologies. This study employs a pluriversal literacies framework to expand conceptualizations of literacy education and to challenge the coloniality embedded in dominant educational systems. Grounded in participatory and community-based research, the project emphasizes relationality and interdependence with the land through community walks and dialog sessions as data co-generation methods. These nonhierarchical methods enable community members to guide the research process and co-construct knowledge. Findings highlight the emergence of local, land-based literacies and demonstrate how these can inform more contextually relevant curricular practices.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1503790
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0193225956;[nrnu]02apr.26;2026Apr27.05:00;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0193225956-1">Pluriversal Literacies in Colombia: Honoring Ancestral Knowledges and Land‐Based Literacies in the Rural School Curricula </title> <p>This study examines one of the author's community‐based research experiences in a rural village of the Colombian Caribbean, collaborating with teachers, students, and local leaders to learn about the local reading and meaning‐making practices that community members depend on to thrive in the tropical dry forest they inhabit. These individuals, including artisans, farmers, and ancestral knowledge holders, shared sensory and ecological understandings—of smells, colors, and forms—that secondary Spanish and English language teachers later integrated into their curricula and classroom practices. Acknowledging such epistemic diversity requires educational practices that move beyond Western‐centric ideals and methodologies. This study employs a pluriversal literacies framework to expand conceptualizations of literacy education and to challenge the coloniality embedded in dominant educational systems. Grounded in participatory and community‐based research, the project emphasizes relationality and interdependence with the land through community walks and dialog sessions as data co‐generation methods. These nonhierarchical methods enable community members to guide the research process and co‐construct knowledge. Findings highlight the emergence of local, land‐based literacies and demonstrate how these can inform more contextually relevant curricular practices.</p> <p>Pictures of community members walking through the tropical dry forest, along with text boxes describing examples of land‐based literacies. Followed by a graph representing the integration of land‐based literacies in curriculum objectives, and samples of student work during a land‐based literacies unit.</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-toc-0001.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-toc-0001.jpg" title="." /> </p> <p></p> <p>In the Colombian educational system, the traditional positivist paradigm has historically overvalued some knowledge and hidden and undervalued others, depending on colonial hierarchies that classify peoples and their knowledge practices according to race and culture (Delgado Tornés [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref1">15</reflink>]; Cruz [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref2">13</reflink>]; Sanipatin [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref3">59</reflink>]; Peña [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref4">46</reflink>]). This overemphasis on alphabetic Western‐centric literacies, often measured by standardized tests, limits educational quality by ignoring the deep‐seated inequalities and diverse realities of the country's ethnic groups, specially indigenous and afro descendent communities (Flores and Palacios [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref5">27</reflink>]). There is a critical need to highlight forms of school resistance that value the importance of local knowledge and promote a pedagogical approach rooted in dialog and the recognition of plural perspectives. This article responds to this urgent need by presenting a liberating and emancipatory approach to literacy education that has been called for decades (e.g., Freire [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref6">28</reflink>]). However, our approach moves beyond print or alphabetic literacies, while foregrounding the local, embodied, and sentient literacies that rural communities develop from their relationships with land.</p> <p>Our work is situated within a body of literature that seeks to expand the conceptualization of literacy beyond the traditional classroom. As Perry ([<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref7">49</reflink>]) argues, plural literacies are fostered in responsive education systems and are interconnected through kinships that transcend geographical and literacy boundaries. They include "literacies of land, water, matter, body, faith and the many other place and time specific literacies of our collective environmental human condition" (Perry [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref8">49</reflink>], X). This study focuses specifically on land‐based literacies—the local ways of reading the land, water, and forest that a community depends on to thrive.</p> <p>This study examines a community‐based research experience in a rural village of the Colombian Caribbean. The first researcher collaborated with teachers, students, and local leaders to learn about the local reading and meaning‐making practices that locals depend on to thrive in the tropical dry forest they inhabit. This partnership enabled the community to devise ways to meaningfully center their land‐based literacies in the school curricula. This, we consider, is an important shift towards the recognition of ancestral knowledges and literacies of campesino communities. While previous research, especially in Latin America, has explored the perceptions of educational and community actors about their local literacies, there remains a significant gap in understanding how teachers and students can center ancestral knowledges and literacies in their school curricula and practices.</p> <p>In this article, we analyze this collaborative experience to understand how land‐based literacies were leveraged by the educational community, specifically through pedagogical practices. The aims of this study are twofold: First, to contribute to the growing research on expanding the conceptualization of literacies to ensure more equitable educational designs that recognize the plurality of knowledges of nondominant communities. Second, to provide an empirical case study of how these ancestral knowledges and literacies can be directly integrated into a rural school curriculum, offering an example for a pluralistic and decolonizing educational future.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-3">Theoretical Framework</hd> <p>This study is informed by decolonial theories to knowledge construction that critique the hierarchization of Western knowledge and epistemology as superior and desirable (Fals Borda [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref9">23</reflink>]; Mignolo [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref10">39</reflink>]). In the late 1990s, Latin American thinkers offered a critical understanding of modernity. They pointed out its enduring oppressive values: misogyny, classism, racism, thus arguing that modernity is not possible without colonization (Dussel [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref11">17</reflink>]; Maldonado‐Torres [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref12">36</reflink>]). This understanding became the foundations of the <emph>modernity/coloniality</emph> research program (Escobar [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref13">18</reflink>]; Mignolo [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref14">40</reflink>]), an intellectual endeavor that tried to unmask the colonial difference that has enforced systems of oppression worldwide. Two of these types of oppression have been epistemic and ontological, which have centered modern man—a white, educated, rich, industrialized, European male—as the measure of success, civilization and power. Similarly, modern, Western thought has become universalized, thus diminishing and ignoring other ways of knowing and being. By universalizing modern man and thought, modernity has enforced a universal ontology that limits the meaning of humanity to the experiences of modern man, and an epistemology that values reason and logocentrism as the valid logics of knowledge creation (Escobar [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref15">19</reflink>]; Mignolo [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref16">41</reflink>]; Wynter [<reflink idref="bib74" id="ref17">74</reflink>]).</p> <p>Modernity's exploitative and colonizing practices have erased knowledges and peoples as illustrated by the awful and unfortunately plentiful examples of inhumane, enforced labor systems of indigenous people (e.g., the Encomienda in South American Hispanic colonies) and attempts to force the assimilation of indigenous communities into Western societies (e.g., the Indian Act in Canada). These systems of oppression led to diminishing indigenous communities, their knowledges, traditions, languages, and cultures. The destruction of knowledges continues to harm groups that have been marginalized (e.g., afro‐descendants, peasants) as hegemonic logocentrism has imposed its own standards and practices to measure and label what counts as knowledge.</p> <p>Inspired by the ideal of countering the destructive universalism imposed by modernity, the pluriverse emerged as the epistemic proposal from the modernity/coloniality research group (Escobar [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref18">19</reflink>]; Mignolo [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref19">42</reflink>]). The pluriverse is framed within the Zapatista's decolonial ideal "Un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos" (a world where many worlds fit), and it challenges the patriarchal and colonial ontologies that pervade modernity. The pluriverse refers to the decolonial vision that transcends Eurocentric universalized claims to be superior, to be a synonym of progress and development. In contrast to this self‐proclaimed superiority and effort to homogenize the world, the pluriverse is based on convivial and dialogical principles and assumptions that acknowledge the myriad ways of being and knowing in our world (Mignolo [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref20">39</reflink>]). As an epistemic proposal, the idea of the pluriverse aims to rearticulate subaltern knowledges; this means including historically excluded subjects from knowledge production endeavors (Escobar [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref21">20</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref22">21</reflink>]).</p> <p>This article adds to decolonial efforts to legitimize the ways of knowing of subaltern groups like the indigenous, afro‐descendent, and peasant communities living in ruralities of Colombia. We move forward Escobar's vision to design for the pluriverse; this means co‐creating practices and tools that deviate from extractivism, individualism, and racial and cultural hierarchization. In education, designing for the pluriverse means recognizing the culturally and historically rooted ways of knowing of people living on our planet. Recognizing such diversity and plurality means designing education that transcends Western ideals, practices, and tools. In this line, we use a pluriversal literacies framework that aims to expand conceptualizations of literacy education in ways that challenge the coloniality of Western educational systems (Perry [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref23">49</reflink>]). According to Becerra‐Posada ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref24">7</reflink>]) Pluriversal literacies is "a decolonial literacies framework that aims to center the epistemological and ontological foundations of the meaning‐making practices that emerge and are enacted within communities" (p. 27). This means recognizing that the ways we assign meanings to signs and learn from and in the world depend on the culturally shared understanding of knowledge and knowledge creation.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-4">Ancestral Knowledges and Literacies</hd> <p>Ancestral knowledges refer to sets of knowledge‐construction practices, wisdom and beliefs that have guided the life of indigenous communities for millennia. Across Turtle Island and Abya Yala, or what today is known as the Americas, indigenous communities have strived to keep these knowledges alive, despite the colonial violence that has threatened their existence (Nemogá et al. [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref25">43</reflink>]; Perilla and Rojano [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref26">48</reflink>]). In Latin America, ancestral knowledges also include the traditions and beliefs of afro‐descendent and peasant communities, which have relied on intergenerational knowledge brought from their African and indigenous ancestors, to exist and reexist in the world (Asprilla [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref27">1</reflink>]; Rentería and Vélez [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref28">53</reflink>]).</p> <p>Indigenous scholars have shed light on the intricacy between ancestral knowledges and literacies, arguing that ancient philosophies embedded in relations with place and nature have the power to "trouble and disrupt colonial myths" (Styres [<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref29">62</reflink>], 25). We concord with the argument that the universalization of alphabetic literacy as a sign of civilization is a <emph>modern/colonial</emph> myth that harms indigenous, peasant, afro‐descendent communities that have been historically oppressed (Becerra‐Posada [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref30">7</reflink>]; Becerra and Mannard [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref31">6</reflink>]; Perry [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref32">49</reflink>]).</p> <p>Understanding the intricacy between knowledge systems and literacies, or meaning‐making practices, is an act of epistemic justice that may allow recognizing the myriad ways of making sense of the world beyond Eurocentric ideals. For instance, indigenous scientists have explained how relational epistemologies central to indigenous wisdom frame the conceptualization of land literacies that require intersensory reading to make meaning from the signs in nature like the wind, animals, plants, or trees (Kimmerer [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref33">35</reflink>]; Styres [<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref34">62</reflink>]). Within indigenous epistemologies, the land is not an agentless object but a <emph>Teacher</emph> who is constantly providing signs to be read and lessons to be learned. In line with the above, this article reviewed Latin American scholarship that integrates ancestral knowledge into the curricula and practices of teachers from different contexts and educational levels.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-5">Literature Review</hd> <p>In line with efforts to challenge the coloniality of knowledge, we intentionally focus our literature review in Latin America (Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia) where the study of ancestral knowledge and school has gained important attention in the last 10 years. These studies have revolved around three main aims: (i) to collect school actors' perceptions on projects and initiatives that included ancestral knowledge into the school curriculum (Rosillo Solano et al. [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref35">57</reflink>]; Sanipatin [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref36">59</reflink>]); (ii) to show experiences of educational practices that integrate ancestral knowledge in school (Rodríguez and González [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref37">56</reflink>]); and (iii) to analyze the presence of ancestral knowledge in teacher training.</p> <p>Studies exploring school actors' perceptions of initiatives related to ancestral knowledge have underscored teachers' interest in rethinking the Eurocentric approaches that have long prevailed in schools, in favor of decolonial and ethno‐educational perspectives that promote respect for diversity and cultural traditions (Sanipatin [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref38">59</reflink>]; Castro Quintero et al. [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref39">12</reflink>]; Ravindran and Benitez [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref40">52</reflink>]). Other research has shown that integrating ancestral knowledge into students' education has improved the quality of educational practices traditionally regarded as low in quality or irrelevant to local contexts (Cabezas Vargas and Escalante Escobar [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref41">9</reflink>]; Villadiego Gamarra and Camacho Berrío [<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref42">73</reflink>]). Such curricular modifications and pedagogical strategies not only enhance teaching practices but also increase students' motivation and engagement, thereby facilitating learning. In other words, new approaches to the teaching–learning process are emerging through pedagogical practices such as vegetable gardening, medicinal plant care, gastronomy, orality, religiosity, and esthetics. These practices recreate and share elements of Afro, Indigenous, and peasant cultures (Castro Quintero et al. [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref43">12</reflink>]).</p> <p>In studies documenting teachers' and students' perceptions of projects that bridge school and ancestral knowledge, participants are typically asked about their involvement, learning, and the project's contribution to the curriculum, as well as the school's role in preserving and transmitting ancestral knowledge (Rosillo Solano et al. [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref44">57</reflink>]; Villa Morales and Aguirre [<reflink idref="bib72" id="ref45">72</reflink>]). While these studies reveal that some teachers actively seek to incorporate knowledge historically excluded from formal education, they also conclude that participation is uneven. Consequently, such efforts often remain individual, temporary, and isolated rather than institutional, systematic, and sustained over time (Rosillo Solano et al. [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref46">57</reflink>]).</p> <p>Several studies have also included families, caregivers, community leaders, and other local actors (Tambaco Quintero et al. [<reflink idref="bib63" id="ref47">63</reflink>]; Caicedo [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref48">10</reflink>]; Vargas [<reflink idref="bib71" id="ref49">71</reflink>]). These works found that family–community participation fosters a meaningful connection between academic learning and local cultural traditions, enriching students' educational experiences and strengthening cultural identity. The success of these initiatives depends on the active involvement of all stakeholders—students, teachers, administrators, and community leaders—underscoring the importance of collaboration and collective responsibility in the educational process.</p> <p>Research focusing on the second aim—documenting educational practices that integrate ancestral knowledge—has primarily described experiences such as school vegetable gardens managed by students (Bonilla [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref50">8</reflink>]). Although these initiatives emphasize ancestral agricultural knowledge related to planting and harvesting, they also pursue broader goals such as promoting sustainability and improving food access for school communities (Universidad Nacional de Educación del Ecuador [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref51">68</reflink>]). Notably, some of these pedagogical experiences seek to connect ancestral agricultural practices of Indigenous, Black, and peasant communities with social innovation and entrepreneurship, aiming to improve local economic conditions and food security (Guzmán [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref52">32</reflink>]).</p> <p>Within this second line of research, two issues stand out. First, certain educational projects received governmental funding that required them to include specific components aligned with ancestral or cultural practices. Second, these experiences often aimed to leave behind tangible educational materials and school‐based initiatives that promote cultural recognition of practices such as community gardening (Universidad Nacional de Educación del Ecuador [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref53">68</reflink>]).</p> <p>The third area of research examines the inclusion of ancestral knowledge in teacher education. This body of work has focused on two main issues: the integration of ancestral knowledge into teacher education curricula and the extent to which teachers who were exposed to such content during their training incorporate it into their classroom practices (Uribe‐Pérez [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref54">69</reflink>]). These studies demonstrate a particular concern with embracing plural worldviews and advancing the decolonization of knowledge through pedagogical practices (Uribe‐Pérez [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref55">69</reflink>]).</p> <p>One study conducted in Bogotá aimed to recognize and dignify Indigenous peoples through attention to their identity, worldview, language, spirituality and cultural expressions, highlighting the intentional participation of the city's Secretariat of Education (Cruz [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref56">13</reflink>]). This research concluded that the <emph>El Recuerdo</emph> Educational Institution, in collaboration with the Wounnan Indigenous community and with support from the Secretariat, has strengthened its intercultural education program through teacher recruitment and training of native cultural facilitators. These facilitators serve both as classroom teachers and as members of working groups addressing social and environmental issues affecting their communities and territories. The program also seeks to empower teachers to think and act collectively, fostering bilingual, environmental, and intercultural education both inside and outside school settings.</p> <p>Regarding research methodologies, most studies employ qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory approaches using techniques such as interviews and narratives (Rosillo Solano et al. [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref57">57</reflink>]; Sanipatin [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref58">59</reflink>]; Castro Quintero et al. [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref59">12</reflink>]; Cabezas Vargas and Escalante Escobar [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref60">9</reflink>]), focus groups (Uribe‐Pérez [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref61">69</reflink>]), and document analysis, including curriculum and program reviews (Guzmán [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref62">32</reflink>]). Others rely on the reconstruction and systematization of educational experiences (Universidad Nacional de Educación del Ecuador [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref63">68</reflink>]; Villa Morales and Aguirre [<reflink idref="bib72" id="ref64">72</reflink>]; Bonilla [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref65">8</reflink>]).</p> <p>Another key finding is that most of these works are published in Spanish and appear in venues with limited circulation—such as reports, theses, and journals indexed in Latin American databases. This limited visibility may stem from the fact that many high‐impact international journals tend to exclude classroom‐based research, deeming its findings too localized or context‐specific.</p> <p>Overall, this review reveals that the inclusion of ancestral knowledge in schooling has been driven by teachers and educational institutions committed to (i) making visible and preserving knowledge historically marginalized within schools, (ii) improving pedagogical practices by incorporating local and traditional knowledge, and (iii) challenging the dominance of external narratives that overlook local realities. These experiences have typically been disseminated through systematization processes that document educational practices or through academic research conducted by teachers as part of their degree requirements.</p> <p>Finally, it is worth noting that most of the reviewed studies emphasize participants' perceptions rather than detailed accounts of the actions carried out within each project. Consequently, reconstructing the specific ancestral practices—such as planting, harvesting, or animal husbandry—remains challenging.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-6">Methodology</hd> <p>Participatory research approaches center communities as agents in knowledge production, emphasizing reciprocal relationships of trust and respect (Fals Borda [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref66">25</reflink>]; Smith et al. [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref67">60</reflink>]). These relationships position participants as co‐researchers, co‐designers, and co‐producers of knowledge, reframing research as a collaborative process that integrates community perspectives, concerns, and lived experiences (Bang et al. [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref68">2</reflink>]). This view aligns with renewed calls for co‐design, a well‐established design approach initially conceived to foster collaboration with users (Sanders and Stappers [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref69">58</reflink>]), as an avenue for truly participatory and ethical research with communities. Equity‐oriented versions of co‐design research center the ubiquity and transformative impact of design (Gutiérrez et al. [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref70">31</reflink>]) and encourage people's participation in the design process in their everyday lives and in their futures (Gutiérrez [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref71">30</reflink>]).</p> <p>Both participatory and co‐design methodologies actively challenge normative ethnographic practices that historically positioned non‐Western and minoritized communities as objects of study. Instead, they foreground horizontal relations, ensuring that participants' beliefs, knowledges, and practices are valued equitably. This shift balances the roles of researchers and participants, establishing communities as decision‐makers in the design, definition, and execution of research.</p> <p>This study is grounded in participatory research approaches and enacts a community‐based methodology that centers relationality and interdependence with the land through community walks and dialog sessions (Becerra [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref72">5</reflink>]). These methods provide opportunities for community members to guide the research process, engage in reciprocal knowledge‐sharing, and assert leadership in shaping the inquiry.</p> <p>Indigenous scholars have highlighted the role of embodied experiences with the land in knowledge‐making for Indigenous communities, situating walking as one of the most ancient human ways of knowing (Cajete [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref73">11</reflink>]; Deloria and Wildcat [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref74">16</reflink>]). Walking is not merely a means of accessing field sites and meeting participants; rather, it serves as a participatory and relational research practice. Walking research methods have gained recognition in anthropology for their potential to gain embodied and situated understandings of human learning and ecological engagement (Ingold and Vergunst [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref75">33</reflink>]).</p> <p>Across various disciplines, scholars have explored walking methods to facilitate participatory knowledge production. Researchers in urban studies and geography (Evans and Jones [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref76">22</reflink>]; Jones et al. [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref77">34</reflink>]) have examined walking interviews, in which researchers and participants walk together while engaging in dialog. These studies underscore how landscapes actively shape discussions, inform participants' reflections, and generate rich narratives (Evans and Jones [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref78">22</reflink>]). Walking as a method also allows participants to direct the research process by selecting routes, pointing out significant locations, and reframing interpretations in real time (Riley and Holton [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref79">54</reflink>]). Posthumanist and feminist scholars further emphasize the potential of walking methodologies for nonhierarchical, collaborative knowledge production (Springgay and Truman [<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref80">61</reflink>]).</p> <p>In education research, walking methodologies have been instrumental in analyzing how material worlds and ecosystems contribute to racialization and educational inequities (Springgay and Truman [<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref81">61</reflink>]; Taylor [<reflink idref="bib65" id="ref82">65</reflink>]; Taylor and Pacini‐Ketchabaw [<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref83">64</reflink>]). Furthermore, walking‐based participatory design (Curnow & the Abolitionist Futures Collective in Vadeboncoeur et al. [<reflink idref="bib70" id="ref84">70</reflink>]) has redefined research as an entanglement of human and more‐than‐human relations. Scholars have explored walking's role in identity formation (Rahm in Vadeboncoeur et al. [<reflink idref="bib70" id="ref85">70</reflink>]) and in fostering learning from and with the land (Bang and Marin [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref86">3</reflink>]; Marin [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref87">37</reflink>]; Pugh et al. [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref88">51</reflink>]).</p> <p>This study employs community walks and dialog sessions as participatory methods that position community members as active decision‐makers and knowledge producers. The walks were not predetermined by the researcher; rather, participants identified key locations, shaped the routes, and narrated their own histories and relations with the land. These walks were complemented by community dialog sessions, which functioned not only as spaces for data collection but also as co‐creation forums where participants critically reflected on their narratives and research directions. These sessions enabled reciprocal meaning‐making and challenged hierarchical knowledge production (Fals Borda [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref89">24</reflink>]).</p> <p>Data collection methods include audio and video recordings from community dialog sessions and in‐person meetings, as well as participant‐generated media such as videos, audio recordings, and photos captured during community walks. These methods not only facilitated rich, situated knowledge production but also reinforced the community's agency in shaping the research process. The data for this article stems from two <emph>caminatas</emph> (walks) and two dialog sessions within an 18‐month partnership between one of the researchers and her partner community. Ethics approval was obtained from the first researcher's institution and consent was continuously checked with participants before starting each <emph>caminata</emph> or dialog session. Participants included 8 adults, 6 youth, and 2 secondary‐level teachers. We focus particularly on these data to evidence how land‐based literacies were showcased by community members during the walks and then served as catalysts for discussion during dialog sessions.</p> <p>Although the methodology offers opportunities for rich data and participants' agency and decision making, community walks require more preparation, planning, and execution time than traditional methods like focus groups or interviews. Data co‐generation requires close planning with participants, considering their time and availabilities. Participation in walks and community dialogs requires fair compensation, for instance equivalent to a day wage, for participants' breadwinning not to be negatively impacted.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-7">Walking and Learning With Community Members</hd> <p>In this study, we share extracts from one of the authors' <emph>caminatas</emph> (walks) and land‐storying with community members of the Callemar community in the Caribbean region of Colombia. Findings from this community‐based project have been shared through different dissemination avenues locally, nationally, and internationally. In this article, we analyze extracts that have not been included in previous publications (Becerra [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref90">5</reflink>]; Becerra Posada and Ehret [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref91">4</reflink>]), especially to understand how the acknowledgment of indigenous local knowledges positioned community members as experts. This nonhierarchical process of knowledge co‐construction enabled participants to identify local, land‐based literacies that are important to community members, as well as ways to include these land‐based literacies in the school curricula.</p> <p>In this first section, first, we followed Edinson, a community member and parent of three youth that attend El Carmen school. During this walk, Edinson led the walk, guiding the path, pointing at native trees, their uses and storying with the land. Then, we followed Pedro Pablo and Julia, who walked us through their home to share about the plant picking and weaving practices that have sustained their household for decades. In the second section, we describe the curricula co‐design that followed the walks and conversations with Edinson, Pedro, and Julia.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-8">The Woodsy Mountain: Attending to Colors, Shapes, Textures, Smells and Stories in the Land</hd> <p>The first author, along with three adults and one youth, joined Edinson and Ana, along with their three children: Eliana, Vale, and Steven in their rice field amidst the hill. Edinson started to land‐story, pointing out the changes he had witnessed in <emph>El Gritón</emph>. For instance, he pointed at the old path, saying: "the path was up there, ten years ago, this was full of scrubs" [translated from Spanish].</p> <p>Then, he asked us if we wanted to go into the woodsy mountain. We all said yes, and he started guiding us, saying it was over there. We lined up, following Edinson. A wired fence separated the field from the thick wood (Figure 1).</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0001.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0001.jpg" title="1 Edinson guides participants towards the forested hill." /> </p> <p></p> <p>As we entered the forest, we engaged in conversations around the trees and plants surrounding us. It was a highly dense forest; however, Edinson was able to identify, name, and describe trees and plants as the following interaction evidences (Transcript 1):</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-10">1 TRANSCRIPT This is Colmillo de León.</hd> <p></p> <p> <ephtml> <table><tbody valign="top"><tr><td align="left">Yeinis</td><td align="center">Esta es la mata e' Corozo que tiene un corozo que uno cojia?</td><td align="center">Is this the Corozo tree that has a corozo that one could pick?</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Edinson</td><td align="center">no esa es la Lanceta</td><td align="center">no, that's the Lanceta</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Edinson</td><td align="center">de ahí hacen escoba, le cojen el cogollo y hacen escoba pero no tiene cogollo ahora</td><td align="center">from there they make a broom, they take the bud and make a broom, but now it doesn't have a bud</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Edinson</td><td align="center">y este bejuco es Colmillo de León</td><td align="center">and this vine is Colmillo de León</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Yeinis</td><td align="center">yo lo había oído mencionar pero no lo conozco</td><td align="center">I had heard it mentioned but I don't know it.</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Ana</td><td align="center">yo lo había oído mencionar</td><td align="center">I had heard it mentioned</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Yeinis</td><td align="center">¿Lo viste Valverde?¡Míralo, es un bejuco de espina</td><td align="center">Did you see it, Valverde? Look at it, it's a thorny vine.</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Edinson</td><td align="center">eso lo cocinan y sirve pa' cálculos</td><td align="center">They cook it and it helps with kidney stones.</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Edinson</td><td align="center">ese grande que está allá se llama santa cruz</td><td align="center">That big one over there is called Santa Cruz.</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Yeinis initiated this interaction (Figure 2), as she walked by a palm that resembles the Corozo palm. She asked Edinson while referring to the practice of picking the corozo fruits. Edinson replied, informing her that it was not a corozo palm; it was a <emph>Lanceta</emph> palm, adding information about the use of <emph>Lanceta</emph> for making brooms. Then, he pointed at another plant next to the <emph>Lanceta</emph> and said it was <emph>Colmillo de León</emph> (Figure 3). Yeinis, Yamile, and Ana mentioned they had heard the name but had not seen the plant before. Edinson then added that <emph>Colmillo de León</emph> was boiled and used by elders to treat kidney stones.</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0002.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0002.jpg" title="2 Edinson describes the Lanceta uses." /> </p> <p></p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0003.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0003.jpg" title="3 Edinson shows the Colmillo de León vine." /> </p> <p></p> <p>Interactions like this one occurred often during the walk through the forested hill. In another part of the forest, Edinson crafted a cane from a tree called Pata de gallina for one of the community neighbors and asked German if he wanted one. Interestingly, Edinson was able to locate the <emph>Pata de gallina</emph> within an area that was covered with vines (Figure 4). This example evinces land‐based literacies like identifying plants that grow close to <emph>Pata de gallina</emph> that Edinson tapped on during this portion of the walk through <emph>El Gritón</emph> (Figure 5).</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0004.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0004.jpg" title="4 Edinson locates the Pata de Gallina stem amidst the forest." /> </p> <p></p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0005.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0005.jpg" title="5 Edinson holds the Pata de Gallina cane." /> </p> <p></p> <p>Another instance of these land literacies was observed when Edinson marked some of the trees with his machete as he led the path, expressing "yo no necesito trocha para andar por aqui" [I do not need a trail to walk around here]. Navigating the forest, like locating and identifying trees, required Edinson to tap on his land literacies, thus reading colors, smells, shapes, and textures that surround him.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-15">Shapes, Colors and Textures to Weave Crafts</hd> <p>Similar literacies were mentioned by Pedro Pablo, a community elder known for his expertise in hand‐crafting native plants. Suggested by community neighbors, the first researcher along with three adults and three youth visited Pedro Pablo. Ana, Pedro Pablo's sister and neighbor, had asked him if he would accept our visit and share some of his plant‐crafting knowledges. He accepted, so the group arrived at his place. Welcomed by Pedro Pablo, Julia, his wife, and grandchildren Isabella and Juan, who also attend El Carmen school, Julia invited us in and walked us through their home, showing artifacts crafted by Pedro Pablo (Figure 6). The group took the opportunity to ask questions and dialog with Pedro Pablo about his craftsmanship as described in the following interaction (Transcript 2):</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0006.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0006.jpg" title="6 Fiber and artifacts at Pedro and Julia's. Left: Bejuco catabre at Pedro Pablo's home. Right: Enea leaves and Jolon, woven basket." /> </p> <p></p> <hd id="AN0193225956-17">2 TRANSCRIPT Bejuco catabre.</hd> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Author 1: Oh, look at that lovely basket. Do you make those too?</item> <p></p> <item> Julia: Yes, that's a jolón for carrying loads on donkeys.</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: to put it on the donkey</item> <p></p> <item> Author 1: The jolón , yes, sir. This is made from the same material?</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: Yes, the same bejuco that's there [pointing at Bejuco stems]</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: And this one, I use it to tie the mats for sleeping [pointing at Enea ]</item> <p></p> <item> Julia: He also makes the mats for sleeping//</item> <p></p> <item> //Pedro: To put on the bed</item> <p></p> <item> Julia: This is Enea , that is for sleeping mats [pointing at Enea leaves]</item> <p></p> <item> Julia: and this one is Bejuco catabre [touching bejuco stems]</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: that one is to work [pointing at bejuco stems]</item> </ulist> <p>In these interactions Pedro Pablo and Julia showcased their knowledge of plants, their names, their shapes, colors and characteristics in terms of resistance and flexibility to make specific crafts. For instance, in the above interaction, they explained that <emph>Bejuco Catabre</emph> is used to make <emph>balays</emph>, flat baskets to vent rice and <emph>jolons</emph>, big baskets placed on top of donkeys to carry loads. Since <emph>Bejuco catabre</emph> is thick and strong, it provides the ideal resistance required in these artifacts. On the contrary, Enea, which is lighter, more flexible and softer to touch, is used for crafting <emph>esteras</emph> and <emph>petates</emph> sleeping mats, ensuring they provide comfort and freshness (Transcript 3).</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0007.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0007.jpg" title="7 Photo of balay at Pedro Pablo's place." /> </p> <p></p> <hd id="AN0193225956-19">3 TRANSCRIPT Balays and brooms.</hd> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Author 1: How long does it take to make this? At least this balay [Figure 7 ].</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: This takes about two days, two days.</item> <p></p> <item> Author 1: You mean, just making it?</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: They have to trim the vine, scrape it, because when it's scraped it looks very nice.</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: And then you weave it and tie it to this material.</item> <p></p> <item> Author 1: And you haven't taught this to your nephews, your children, your grandchildren?</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: None of them want me to teach them.</item> </ulist> <p>Pedro Pablo also pointed out specific signs he reads from plants to identify, name and use them. For instance, he pays attention to their color (e.g., this green one), size (e.g., <emph>that big one</emph>). He also explained how plants are used. For instance, bejuco needs to be scraped and tied to make the balays (they <emph>have to trim the vine, scrape it, because when it's scraped it looks very nice. And then you weave it and tie it to this material</emph>). Pedro Pablo told that he learned these plant‐weaving practices from observing and doing with his father and siblings. He also warned that the younger generations are not interested in learning these practices (Transcript 4).</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0008.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0008.jpg" title="8 Photo of Pedro looking at fan." /> </p> <p></p> <hd id="AN0193225956-21">4 TRANSCRIPT I make that fan.</hd> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Pedro: I make this, and I make that one over there [pointing to a fan] (Figure 8)</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: I make more things out of that material.</item> <p></p> <item> Author 1: Oh, right. And what do you make this with? [showing fan]</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: With that bush over there [walking to the Iraka bush]</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: This green one.</item> <p></p> <item> Author 1: That one?</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: That big bush over there.</item> <p></p> <item> Author 1: This one?</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: This is the iraca [showing large plant]</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: Yes, you take this palm to tie the broom [picking iraca leaves]</item> <p></p> <item> Author 1: You tie the broom with that? [picking flower] And not this? What is this?</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: No, that's the seed it produces.</item> <p></p> <item> Author 1: Ah, it's the seed. OK. And does the iraca still reproduce quite a lot here?</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: Yes, there are some here. Here in these bushes and in others, down there.</item> <p></p> <item> Author 1: Do you plant it or does it grow on its own?</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: It grows on its own, but if you leave it alone.</item> <p></p> <item> Author 1: And the vine [bejuco]? Do you have to go further away for that?</item> <p></p> <item> Pedro: That's the one I have to go further away to find.</item> </ulist> <p>In this interaction, Pedro Pablo initiated and led the interaction, giving details about his craftsmanship, pointing at the plants like <emph>Iraka</emph>, where he gets the fibers to craft fans and tie brooms. He walked to the bush to explain what specific parts of the <emph>Iraka</emph> plant he uses and to enlighten author 1 on how to identify the <emph>Iraka</emph> parts, its uses and its reproduction on his home's patio (Figure 9). Pedro also mentioned that unlike <emph>Iraka</emph>, the <emph>bejuco catabre</emph> is found further away. This is a point he had previously mentioned as one of the changes that hinder his crafting of mats.</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0009.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0009.jpg" title="9 Pedro walks to Iraka bush." /> </p> <p></p> <p>The examples from the above interactions evidence that land‐based literacies, like plant‐weaving, require reading signs from nature like colors, textures, shapes, size, along with cultural‐historical, ancestral knowledge, which is passed intergenerationally, like the ways plants are used and crafted in the community.</p> <p>During these walks, community members shared their expertise reading signs from the land to identify, collect and transform native plants. For instance, Edinson relied on nonalphabetic signs like color and texture to show plants and their properties. He also pointed at specific parts of the plant, like was the case for the <emph>lanceta</emph>'s shoot to make brooms, shedding light on the knowledges and literacies community members tap on to sustainably transform plants. Practices like plant weaving and shaping have been shared intergenerationally, as Pedro Pablo expressed in the previous interactions. Similarly, Ana, a juncus weaver, had mentioned her husband had taught her and their children to weave juncus mats. These experiences sparked reflections about the role that these literacies may take in the school and the role of parents and community members in passing their ancestral knowledges to the younger generations, which we describe in the next section.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-23">Community Dialogue: Bringing Land‐Based Literacies to School</hd> <p>After the <emph>caminatas</emph>, members of the partnership engaged in dialogue sessions where they co‐analyzed video extracts from the <emph>caminatas</emph>, like the ones described above. In these interactions, locals, teachers, and students express shifting their vision of ancestral knowledges and local literacies and why these would be important for their education.</p> <p>From these sessions we agreed on centering land‐based literacies, like plant picking and weaving, those whom elders and adults like Pedro Pablo and Edinson practice in their daily lives.</p> <p>Teachers along with the first author planned this unit, understanding the central role of community experts in sharing their ancestral knowledges and land‐based literacies with the students (see Figure 10).</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0010.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0010.jpg" title="10 Unit design centering Elders' knowledge of plants and their land‐based literacies." /> </p> <p></p> <p>Figure 10 shows that the elders' knowledge of native plants was at the center of the unit. Two literacies were included in the unit design: land‐based literacies of plant‐picking and weaving and the activist literacies of amplifying local knowledges. The transdisciplinary objectives of the unit included recognizing elders' ancestral knowledges and valuing local knowledges and practices.</p> <p>After having decided the focus, literacies and objectives of the unit, the first researcher and the schoolteachers planned four workshops around four main plants used in the community: Calabash, corn, <emph>Iraka</emph>, and fruits. Teachers invited community elders to the school to lead the workshops and share with the students about their ancestral knowledges and land‐based literacies. The first author and the teachers co‐created weekly instructional plans for each language teacher (Figures 11 and 12).</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0011.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0011.jpg" title="11 Extracts from Enith's (top) and Fernando's (bottom) weekly planners." /> </p> <p></p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0012.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0012.jpg" title="12 Student poster describing calabash spoons. Translation: Calabash spoon kits. Artistic handmade spoons. It is useful to avoid damaging the environment. Helps to save our money. That we do not let our traditions be lost. And is very useful for everything we do in our kitchen, like coffee, soup, and rice porridge. It's made from calabash. It works for every task you do in the kitchen. They are also very important because one does not burn. They are simple and very easy to do." /> </p> <p></p> <p>These plans included activities that prepared and required students to tap on the learnings from each workshop to complete the subject‐specific tasks and projects. Enith's and Fernando's instructional activities require students to tap on their own knowledges and experiences with <emph>Totumo</emph> (calabash) and <emph>Iraka</emph>, as well as the elders' shared knowledges to craft their own calabash and <emph>Iraka</emph> artifacts.</p> <p>During the calabash workshop, Daniel, a community member and parent from a former El Carmen student, brought artifacts he crafts from <emph>Totumo</emph> and told stories about the ways his ancestors crafted the <emph>Totumo</emph> fruits and used the <emph>Totumo</emph> utensils. He also described their calabash harvesting practices and instructed students on calabash‐carving, highlighting signs to read like the texture, color, and size of the fruits to decide whether to make spoons, bottles, containers, or bowls. Along with Daniel, Yeinis, another community member, described the process for extracting calabash juice, which is used for capillary and skin treatments.</p> <p>During the workshop, students were actively listening to Daniel and Yeinis, asking questions, taking notes, and telling stories of <emph>Totumo</emph> uses in their families. After the workshop, Enith instructed students to craft their own calabash projects. During the English lessons, Enith and students studied descriptive texts which students would use to describe their own calabash products. As seen in Figure 12 below, students chose a variety of products that included water bottles, spoons, drinking cups, shampoo, a chicken holder, toy cars, and helicopters.</p> <p>Figure 12 shows a student's poster that accompanied their crafted artifact. Students presented their <emph>Totumo</emph> [calabash] crafts to their classmates in English, using the poster as support. In their texts, students highlighted the value of these <emph>Totumo</emph> crafts and utensils to live in their community and to care for the environment since they help reduce the use of plastics.</p> <p>These examples show how the English teacher and their students connected English language learning to the local knowledges and literacies shared and lived by community members in relation with native plants. Enith, the English teacher, referred to the value of drawing on local knowledges and literacies in the English class: "it's been easier to use the language because they feel like in their world, they are sure to talk about what they know".</p> <p>In Fernando's case, students crafted <emph>Iraka</emph> artifacts while tapping on the knowledges shared by elders during the workshop and from the interviews to neighbors and family members. Students shared their artifacts in the Spanish class, showing new applications of the indigenous <emph>Iraka</emph> weaving practice, like the crafting of a cellphone case in Figure 13.</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0013.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0013.jpg" title="13 Picture of an Iraka cellphone case crafted by students." /> </p> <p></p> <p>Besides artifactual texts like the one above, teachers connected the literacies of harvesting and transforming plants like corn to the content of the subject area. For example, in Spanish, the integration of these literacies into the curriculum supported the theme on textual composition of myths. The Spanish language teacher stated: "We had an abundance of texts about corn, and I was able to focus on pre‐Hispanic literature. The students identified with the texts because they talk about something that is part of their culture." The students created texts inspired by corn. In this case, a story telling the students' version of the discovery of corn (see example Figure 14).</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/NRNU/02apr26/rrq70089-fig-0014.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNHX8kSepq84v%2bvlOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="rrq70089-fig-0014.jpg" title="14 Spanish version of students composed myth and its corresponding English translation." /> </p> <p></p> <p>Like Enith, Fernando and their students were able to tap on knowledges shared by elders during the workshop to co‐produce and describe plant‐weaved crafts and compose stories telling the origin or explanation of a phenomenon. Both examples were also aligned with the national curricula, which included the identification of registers, and the reading and composition of myths and legends.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-29">Expanding Literacies for Epistemic Justice</hd> <p>This study aimed to contribute to the growing research on expanding the conceptualization of literacies. We believe this is an act of epistemic justice to counter the erasure of ancestral knowledges from definitions of literacy conceived within Eurocentric epistemologies and ontologies.</p> <p>The detailed description of the dialog that emerged with Edinson, Pedro Pablo, and Julia during the <emph>caminatas</emph> aimed to evince how these rural community members read the signs of the forest and their ecology. Analysis of these interactions evidences literacies like forest crossing and land storying, where signs like the location, shape, and texture of the plants, trees, and soil enabled Edinson to navigate the forest "without a trail". Only with his machete and reading the sunlight and shades, he was able to make his own path through the dense tropical dry forest of <emph>El Gritón</emph>. Edinson's practice of reading signs in nature to inform their decisions and interactions in the world illustrates how literacy can be understood not only as textual but as embodied, ecological, and relational. This contributes to ongoing efforts to expand literacy studies by grounding theory in the lived practices of rural and peasant Colombian communities. Indigenous scholars have argued for the recognition of land‐based practices as literacies (Styres [<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref92">62</reflink>]) that have enabled indigenous peoples to live in relation with land and nature. Furthermore, learning scientists have also underscored the pivotal role of ecologies and nature‐cultures for learning within indigenous and ethnic communities (Bang et al. [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref93">2</reflink>]; Perry et al. [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref94">50</reflink>]).</p> <p>In South America, scholars have argued against the idea of indigenous communities as illiterate by emphasizing how their sign systems and semiotic practices convey pluriversal ways of being literate that enabled the flourishing of, for instance, Inca, Maya, Aymara cultures (Cusicanqui [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref95">14</reflink>]; Mignolo [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref96">38</reflink>]). This study's findings counter that deficit narrative of indigenous and ethnic communities as illiterate, unintelligent, or uncivilized.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-30">Contributions to Research Methodologies for the Study of Literacies</hd> <p>The <emph>caminatas</emph> not only revealed ecological literacies but also functioned as a methodological tool for co‐constructing knowledge in nonhierarchical ways. The walking dialogues that emerged were also avenues for participatory research where participants positioned themselves as knowledge holders and sharers, disrupting traditional researcher‐participant dynamics (Fals Borda [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref97">26</reflink>]).</p> <p>For instance, Edinson assumed a guiding role during the walk through the forest, not only directing where and how to walk, but sharing his knowledge of trees, plants and the forest itself. Similarly, Julia invited us into her home, showing the artifacts made by Pedro Pablo, thereby acknowledging and honoring the literacies and knowledge embedded in his plant‐weaving practices. Pedro Pablo, initially hesitant, shifted from simply responding to questions to actively walking us through their garden, describing how he works with plants like <emph>Iraka</emph>.</p> <p>These examples evince local ways of knowledge construction that rely on local literacies, where ecological practices and material artifacts function as texts. For instance, the <emph>Iraka</emph> and <emph>Enea</emph> artifacts in Pedro and Julia's home functioned as living texts that have safeguarded the indigenous Zenu knowledges. These texts embody the plant‐weaving literacies through which Pedro relates both to plants he picks and weaves and to community neighbors that rely on his craftsmanship. Julia's act of showing the artifacts functioned as a recognition to these knowledges and affirmed the expertise of plant‐weavers in her community.</p> <p>Methodologically, these experiences highlight the <emph>caminata</emph> as a decolonial approach to literacy research that puts community members at the center of knowledge construction and creates a horizontal space of dialog where local literacies are enacted, validated and recognized as central to knowledge‐making. In sum, the <emph>caminatas</emph> enabled participants to identify and share land‐based literacies important to their community, therefore pointing at the avenues to include these local literacies in the school curricula.</p> <p>While the <emph>caminatas</emph> highlighted methodological pathways for co‐constructing knowledge, the following section focuses on their pedagogical implications: how teachers and community members expanded views of literacy to reshape curricula and classroom practices.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-31">Expanded Views of Literacy for Pluriversal Educational Designs</hd> <p>We described how the walking methodology enabled community members and teachers to engage in a horizontal process of knowledge co‐construction where local, land‐based literacies were not only recognized but centered. This recognition mobilized community members and teachers to craft more equitable educational designs that recognize the plurality of knowledges in the rural community. The teachers' co‐designs provide an empirical case study of how ancestral knowledges and literacies can be directly integrated into school curricula, offering an example for a pluralistic and decolonizing educational future.</p> <p>A key finding is the teachers' desire to innovate pedagogically by incorporating ancestral knowledge and local literacies into the institutional curricula. This innovation is evident both in their incorporation of land‐based literacies like those shared by Edinson, Pedro, and Julia into the institutional curriculum. The teachers and community members worked in tandem to materialize that curriculum in pedagogical practices, inviting neighbors to lead workshops that centered the land‐based literacies of plant‐weaving and crafting native plants like <emph>Iraka</emph>, corn, and calabash. The examples from students' work shed light on the impact that bringing ancestral knowledges and local literacies had on students' textual production in the English and Spanish class. Students were inspired to craft their own artifacts, honoring the local practices and reimagining their uses, like the case of the students who wove cellphone cases with <emph>Iraka</emph> stems. As Fernando acknowledged, the inclusion of ancestral knowledges and literacies fostered student engagement and active production of multimodal texts that tapped on the knowledges shared by elders during the workshops. Students' active participation and creativity, such as Enth's class projects where learners crafted artifacts and described them in English, demonstrated how integrating local literacies can transform language learning into a meaningful, community‐connected practice.</p> <p>Enith and Fernando's co‐designs also illustrate that it is possible for rural teachers to imagine and enact place‐based, culturally relevant pedagogies. This contribution is particularly relevant in the Colombian context where curricular reforms and policies tend to import curricular models often from the Global North without contextualization. Such models are usually short‐lived and unsuccessful, leaving teachers who attempted to implement them frustrated (Torres [<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref98">66</reflink>]; Guerrero [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref99">29</reflink>]; Pérez and Idarraga [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref100">47</reflink>]). These external approaches have contributed to the undervaluation of literacies embedded in local ways of thinking, knowing, narrating, feeling, and perceiving. By contrast, the teachers in this study affirmed that local literacies could serve as catalysts for innovation in their classrooms.</p> <p>Moreover, there is a clear need to include narratives beyond the Eurocentric ones that have dominated standardized education systems. As this study demonstrates, it is possible to break away from Western narratives. Similar insights have emerged from Latin American scholarship (Guerrero [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref101">29</reflink>]; National University of Education of Ecuador 2020; Sanipatin [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref102">59</reflink>]), which highlights the importance of incorporating diverse narratives and voices to stimulate learning and engagement among students. Studies on contextual learning (Palacios and Roca [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref103">45</reflink>]) and on the ethno‐educational experiences of Indigenous and Afro‐descendant teachers (Palacios et al. [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref104">44</reflink>]) have shown that pedagogies grounded in environmental and community issues not only increase students' involvement and motivation in class, but also foster the development of diverse communication skills—one of the major concerns of the Colombian education system.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-32">Final Remarks on the Need to Decolonize Knowledge Dissemination</hd> <p>Both the gaps in the literature in Colombia and in the region, as well as the results of this research, highlight the importance of expanding research on school experiences within the framework of pluriversal literacies (Becerra Posada and Ehret [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref105">4</reflink>]; Becerra‐Posada [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref106">7</reflink>]). Such expansion refers specifically to research where literacy clearly emerges as embodied in ways of learning, doing, and knowing (Perry [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref107">49</reflink>]), rather than being reduced to authors' perceptions of their experiences. This is important because it represents a rupture with single narratives and dominant ways of teaching and learning in schools, opening space for the real inclusion of diverse knowledges in the curricula and pedagogical strategies that also contribute to students' higher learning (Rosillo Solano et al. [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref108">57</reflink>]; Sanipatin [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref109">59</reflink>]).</p> <p>Another important aspect that this research has revealed is the exclusion of school experiences, such as the ones reviewed here, which are often not considered relevant in academic and scientific journals (Trujillo [<reflink idref="bib67" id="ref110">67</reflink>]). The classification of this work as <emph>gray literature</emph> or low‐impact research simply because they deal with contextualized case studies located in a specific territory—limits the opportunity for pre‐service, in‐service teachers, teacher‐educators, and researchers interested in pedagogical and curricular innovations to access and draw on these works (Rodríguez and González [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref111">56</reflink>]; Villa Morales and Aguirre [<reflink idref="bib72" id="ref112">72</reflink>]). In other words, a wide circulation of educational experiences developed by teachers and communities in specific contexts, from the approach of pluriversal literacies, would favor the advancement of this line of research as a powerful and emerging pedagogical approach, but also act as epistemic justice by challenging the hegemony of Eurocentric publishing practices.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-33">Funding</hd> <p>Becerra‐Posada's research was funded by the Fonds de Recherche du Quebec Social Sciences Doctoral Scholarship #319894, COLFUTURO scholarship # 202004671, and Universidad de Córdoba in Colombia.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-34">Ethics Statement</hd> <p>REB 22‐09‐024 was granted for Tatiana Becerra‐Posada's doctoral research by McGill University.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-35">Conflicts of Interest</hd> <p>The authors declare no conflicts of interest.</p> <hd id="AN0193225956-36">Data Availability Statement</hd> <p>The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. 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  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Pluriversal Literacies in Colombia: Honoring Ancestral Knowledges and Land-Based Literacies in the Rural School Curricula
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Tatiana+Becerra-Posada%22">Tatiana Becerra-Posada</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3156-6907">0000-0003-3156-6907</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Nancy+Palacios%22">Nancy Palacios</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1318-0728">0000-0003-1318-0728</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Marcela+Ramos%22">Marcela Ramos</searchLink>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Reading+Research+Quarterly%22"><i>Reading Research Quarterly</i></searchLink>. 7975384 2026 61(2).
– Name: Avail
  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 18
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2026
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Rural+Schools%22">Rural Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Indigenous+Knowledge%22">Indigenous Knowledge</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Literacy%22">Literacy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Place+Based+Education%22">Place Based Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Secondary+School+Curriculum%22">Secondary School Curriculum</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Spanish%22">Spanish</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22English+%28Second+Language%29%22">English (Second Language)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Colonialism%22">Colonialism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+Community+Relationship%22">School Community Relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+Teachers%22">Language Teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Secondary+School+Teachers%22">Secondary School Teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Secondary+School+Students%22">Secondary School Students</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Colombia%22">Colombia</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1002/rrq.70089
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 0034-0553<br />1936-2722
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: This study examines one of the author's community-based research experiences in a rural village of the Colombian Caribbean, collaborating with teachers, students, and local leaders to learn about the local reading and meaning-making practices that community members depend on to thrive in the tropical dry forest they inhabit. These individuals, including artisans, farmers, and ancestral knowledge holders, shared sensory and ecological understandings--of smells, colors, and forms--that secondary Spanish and English language teachers later integrated into their curricula and classroom practices. Acknowledging such epistemic diversity requires educational practices that move beyond Western-centric ideals and methodologies. This study employs a pluriversal literacies framework to expand conceptualizations of literacy education and to challenge the coloniality embedded in dominant educational systems. Grounded in participatory and community-based research, the project emphasizes relationality and interdependence with the land through community walks and dialog sessions as data co-generation methods. These nonhierarchical methods enable community members to guide the research process and co-construct knowledge. Findings highlight the emergence of local, land-based literacies and demonstrate how these can inform more contextually relevant curricular practices.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
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  Data: As Provided
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  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2026
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1503790
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1503790
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1002/rrq.70089
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 18
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Rural Schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Indigenous Knowledge
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Literacy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Place Based Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Secondary School Curriculum
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Spanish
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: English (Second Language)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Colonialism
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: School Community Relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Language Teachers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Secondary School Teachers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Secondary School Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Colombia
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Pluriversal Literacies in Colombia: Honoring Ancestral Knowledges and Land-Based Literacies in the Rural School Curricula
        Type: main
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          Name:
            NameFull: Tatiana Becerra-Posada
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            NameFull: Nancy Palacios
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          Name:
            NameFull: Marcela Ramos
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            – D: 01
              M: 04
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 0034-0553
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              Value: 1936-2722
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              Value: 61
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              Value: 2
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            – TitleFull: Reading Research Quarterly
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