The Master in Education for Interculturality and Sustainability (MEIS) is a program which has been taught since February 2015 by the Institute for Educational Research , in collaboration with the Intercultural University of Veracruz, the Centre for Tropical Research, the Eco-Literacy and Knowledge Dialogue Center and the Language Faculty, all part of the Universidad Veracruzana.
It is a professionalizing postgraduate program whose purpose is to contribute to culturally and environmentally relevant educational processes, aimed at improving the quality of life, the exercise of rights, the safeguarding of natural resources and territory, and the construction of sustainable, participatory and intercultural societies. The above is developed through collective generation of knowledge, analysis of local and regional conditions, and the development and visibility of knowledge that sustains coexistence and social justice, participatory governance and society-nature integration.
The MEIS works with multi and transdisciplinary methodologies, trying to nourish not only the training of students, but also of the academic staff, and the citizens participating with the program and other entities (communities, groups, projects, institutions) with whom we work on dialogic collaboration projects.
Education for interculturality and sustainability is a hopeful alternative, based on a holistic approach to the current social and ecological crisis, which offers the exploration and construction of knowledge promoting more horizontal and egalitarian communication channels, spaces for design and application of teaching and learning strategies, as well as the development of innovative and relevant conceptual and methodological tools in cultural and biologically divers contexts.
The ultimate goal is to move towards a sustainability perspective that implies the conservation and maintenance of ecosystems’ life cycles, as well as the understanding and assessment of the close interrelation that many communities and peoples maintain with nature in each of their cultural expressions.
Two paradigms are braided around the educational task, interculturality and sustainability, seeking to respond to varied social and environmental problems, developing projects in both formal and non-formal environments: territory management and natural resources; strengthening of initiatives that take ownership of Mexican and Latin American perspectives of “good living” to name a few examples. In these areas, in a cross-cutting manner, aspects such as the enforceability of human rights and gender perspective are also considered.
