Experiences from Latin America show how living heritage can enrich learning

The knowledge, practices and cultural expressions that communities pass on from generation to generation can profoundly enrich educational processes and open up new forms of learning both inside and outside the classroom. This was one of the main reflections shared during a regional seminar organized by UNESCO as part of the presentation of the study Education and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean (available in Spanish).

The meeting brought into dialogue the findings of the publication with concrete experiences from the region that integrate living heritage, local memory, traditional crafts, heritage education and knowledge linked to territory. Drawing on these examples, specialists and representatives of community-based initiatives highlighted the importance of recognizing local knowledge as legitimate knowledge and as pedagogical resources for strengthening the cultural relevance of education.

Among the main findings of Education and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean is that just over half of the practices analyzed incorporate more than one of the categories recognized by UNESCO's 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, including ritual practices, oral traditions, traditional craft techniques, performing arts, and knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe. This shows that many educational initiatives do not approach living heritage in isolation, but rather as part of broader cultural systems in which knowledge, memories, languages, crafts, artistic expressions and links with territory are interconnected.

The document also shows that 49.5% of the experiences studied correspond to non-formal initiatives, while 38% take place in the field of formal education (the remaining 12.5% cover both categories). This distribution shows that a significant share of learning linked to living heritage takes place outside the school setting, in community, cultural, territorial and intergenerational spaces, although there is also a relevant field of integration within formal educational institutions.

The study was presented by anthropologist and University of Chile academic Carla Pinochet, who led the research and analysis behind the publication. The document identifies pedagogical principles and experiences that integrate intangible cultural heritage into formal and non-formal learning processes, and seeks to help ensure that education systems and cultural policies in the region recognize the value of community knowledge as part of education that is relevant, inclusive and culturally meaningful.

"In the face of the major challenges we are confronting today, living heritage emerges as a source of resilience, creativity and hope. It reminds us that communities possess knowledge, practices and ways of relating to their environment that can profoundly enrich the educational models of the present and the future," stressed Esther Kuisch Laroche, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Santiago, in the opening of the event.

Owan Lay Gonzalez, Director of the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Latin America (CRESPIAL), highlighted the importance of recognizing this knowledge in educational processes. "Valuing this educational heritage is also an exercise in cultural rights is also an exercise in cultural rights, the right to learn in one's own language, to see one's own culture reflected in school content, and for community knowledge to be regarded as legitimate knowledge rather than mere folklore. This is what this publication promotes by making these practices visible and systematizing them; it contributes in a concrete way to the exercise of these rights throughout the region," he said.

The meeting concluded with a panel moderated by Alejandro Gumá Ruiz, Culture Specialist at UNESCO's Havana Office, featuring voices from Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador. Among the experiences presented were Ferrowhite - Workshop Museum, from Bahía Blanca, Argentina, which weaves together local memory and social resilience; the Escuelas Taller of Colombia, which connect traditional crafts with technical education; the Chocó Andino Forest-School Network in Ecuador, which links biocultural heritage with community participation; and Chile's National Heritage Education Policy.