From the history of education to education as history: the Latin American case

Authors

Keywords:

education, history, Latin America, epistemology, ontology, ancestral knowledge, teaching, educational technology

Abstract

Reflecting on education inevitably entails examining its historical, political, and cultural dimensions, as well as its epistemological and ontological turns within the Latin American context. This editorial offers a critical and contemporary reinterpretation of the history of education, understanding education not as a closed narrative of the past but as an active, present-centered historical practice. Its objective is to challenge the hegemonic narratives that have written about education through universalist and disciplinary lenses, and to promote a broader conception that embraces ancestral knowledge, the agency of objects, emerging technologies, and historically silenced voices, including those ones of educators. The methodology is based on a reflective-analytical approach, supported by a critical review of relevant literature and a philosophical problematization of key concepts. In conclusion, the text proposes that thinking of education as history means acknowledging its dynamic, contextual, and unfinished nature. It is a tool for social transformation that must engage with the present and envision the future through the lenses of diversity and epistemic justice.

Author Biographies

  • Gabriel Arturo Farías-Rojas, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile

    He holds a degree/state teaching qualification in English from the University of Santiago de Chile (Chile), is a professor of special education with a specialization in language at the University of Antofagasta (Chile), a Master's Degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from the University of Jaén (Spain), a Master's Degree in English Teacher Training from the International Ibero-American University (UNIB), and a Master's Degree in Letters and Arts (UEA, Brazil; OAS scholarship). He also holds a PhD in American Studies (UAI; ANID-Chile scholarship) and serves as Academic Coordinator of English and Culture at the School of Police Research (ESCIPOL) (Chile). His publications include: “Between Subjectivity and Otherness in Gabriela Mistral's Political Prose Discourse in the 1930s,” “The Biographical Discourse on Gabriela Mistral Around Her Images,” “Gabriela Mistral and the Incompleteness of Her Biography,” “Gabriela Mistral and Education for Ibero-American and World Peace,” “Non-human agents in Mistral's writing,” and “Gabriela Mistral: Migration/mobility in ‘Chile’ from a continental perspective.”

  • Miriam Elizabeth Cid-Uribe, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Professor of English at the University of Chile (Chile), MA in English Language and Cultural Tradition from the University of Sheffield (England) and PhD in Linguistics and Phonetics from the University of Leeds (England). She has worked at the University of Bío-Bío, PUC, and USACH, and has directed undergraduate and graduate programs. She has extensive experience as a researcher and evaluator (ANID, Chile) and has also supervised doctoral theses for the Spanish university system. She is an academic in the English Pedagogy program at USACH. Among her publications related to Mistral are (1) “The Importance of Gabriela Mistral's Prose”; (2) “Gabriela Mistral and Education for Ibero-American and World Peace”; (3) “Southern Ontology and Epistemology and the Prosodic Manifestation of Emotion in Gabriela Mistral's ‘Chile’”; and (4) “Processes that Lead to the Promotion of Fluency in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a University Environment.”

References

Arata, N. y Pineau, P. (2019). Seis dimensiones para abordar la historia de la educación en perspectiva latinoamericana en N. Arata y P. Pineau (Eds.), Latinoamérica: la educación y su historia. Nuevos enfoques para su debate y enseñanza (pp. 13-32). Editorial de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Buenos Aires.

De Dios-Alija, T., Parada-Rodríguez, J. L., Claudio-Quiroga, G. y Font-De Villanueva, C. (2023). Comunidades docentes de aprendizaje para una educación integral, transversal y equitativa orientada al progreso sostenible. Foro de Educación, 21(1), 5-23. https://forodeeducacion.com/ojs/index.php/fde/article/view/5

Jardilino, J. R. L., Soto-Arango, D. E. y Mora-García, J. P. (2017). La historia de la educación en América Latina: contribución y aportes de la sociedad de historia de la educación latinoamericana - Shela (1994-2015). Revista História da Educação, 21(51), 351-375. https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/asphe/article/view/66357

Downloads

Published

2025-07-29

Issue

Section

Publisher

How to Cite

Farías-Rojas, G. A., & Cid-Uribe, M. E. (2025). From the history of education to education as history: the Latin American case. Strategic Intelligence, 2(1), 13-17. https://revista.esici.edu.co/index.php/inest/article/view/15