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Opening paths, Pewecxanxi: Recognizing the territory to learn in nature like own education

Tracks
Mossman Ballroom
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
2:45 PM - 3:00 PM

Speaker

Dr Catherine Ramos García
Tejiendo Mundos

Opening paths, Pewecxanxi: Recognizing the territory to learn in nature like own education

ISE Congress 2026 Abstract

Every activity or project undertaken for the Nasa people requires opening paths. They spiritually with medicinal plants. Here, we aim to open the way for the young people of the Educational Institutions in the ancestral territories of Inzá and Tierradentro. Through Talking Maps, similar to those created by the Cauca communities together with Luis Guillermo Vasco in the 70s and 80s, we want young people to recognize the territory and see themselves in it, to contemplate their life projects and view their surroundings as fertile ground to sow their dreams. We also collaborate with teachers from these institutions to contextualize their work, recognizing the problems of the territory and understanding what students need to contribute to the solution of these problems. This, in turn, strengthens Community Educational Plans and Life Plans. Through the opening of these paths, pedagogies of one's own education are revitalized, where learning takes place in nature, enhancing gifts, artistic and cultural skills, and building life projects collectively with the other beings that inhabit the territory - the ravine, the hill, the bird, the puma, the forest, the coffee, the corn, Coca, and beans. We systematize the entire experience, to reflect and consolidate learning.

Biography

Sociologist and Ecologist Master’s in Education Master’s in Nature and Human Sciences PhD in Anthropology at the University of Cauca Postdoctoral Research at the National School of Earth Sciences at UNAM, Mexico. As an activist and scholar, I have learned to read nature with Indigenous and rural communities in Colombia and Mexico. My work focuses on environmental education and public engagement with science. From anthropology, STS, and ethnoecology, I study human–nature relations and knowledge co-production.
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