Indigenous Knowledge and the Education System: Plants and Food Production in the Development of Inclusive and Diverse Pedagogies

The domestication of plants to make them suitable for consumption is a cultural event in many Indigenous cultures. The cultivation and production of food forms an important part of the worldview of Indigenous peoples. Its inclusion in formal education therefore addresses several cultural issues, fostering understanding of Indigenous life systems, on the one hand, and, on the other, strengthening their perceived legitimacy as valid, necessary processes that are in dialogue with other knowledge imparted within the school system. At the same time, the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives is necessary for a new social contract for education, advancing a paradigm in which Indigenous peoples and organizations participate directly in the creation of educational content, as opposed to what has been happening: states defining and establishing school programme design and content.