Indigenous Governance and Education in Belize: Lessons from the Maya Land Rights Struggle and Indigenous Education Initiatives

Abstract

The “dialectic of resistance and colonization” produced the Alcalde system, a Maya form of governance allowed the Maya people to maintain a degree of autonomy and was central to both physical and cultural survival during colonial rule. In the last three decades, the Alcalde system has played a critical role in efforts to overcome the effects of colonization and exclusion, to revitalize their communities and to carve a space for a Maya way of knowing and being in Belize. Whether in the struggle to secure Maya land rights that has resulted in a landmark ruling in favor of the Maya at the Caribbean Court of Justice or in efforts to overcome the failings of the education system and dream a more responsive and decolonized educational practice that has resulted in the Tumul K’in Center of Learning, the principles and practices embodied in the Alcalde system have been instrumental. By examining the history, the principles and practices it embodies and the role it has played in the Maya land-rights struggle and the Tumul K’in education initiative, this chapter considers the limits and possibilities of what Maya governance might contribute to rethinking education.