Maria Antonia Manresa Axisa

My research interests are in multilingual communicative practices and epistemological differences in intercultural and indigenous education. My PhD (2018) research examined the development of bilingual intercultural education policy in Ecuador and how this was mediated and translated by local actors within a particular Amazonian indigenous territory. The research showed how the school becomes a space for negotiating difference by community actors, as a key strategy in the historical struggle for relative autonomy.

Through my research I explore the intersection between multilingual practices and the emergence of epistemological diversity in educational spaces (formal and informal). I have expertise in ethnographic linguistics exploring translanguaging practices in the context of indigenous Amerindian language (Quichua) and Spanish and how this intersects with the possibilities of the production of indigenous knowledge. My interest in education is framed from the perspective of critical and decolonial pedagogies.

I have conducted research and worked in community-based education programs for over 18 years with Quichua indigenous nationalities of the Ecuadorian highland and Amazonian region.

Read more about Maria and her work here.