'Buen Vivir' and colonialism: Towards decolonial pedagogies in South America

Abstract

'Buen Vivir' is a polysemic and counter-hegemonic notion based on world views of native communities from South America, which is understood as Sumak Kawsay in Quechua, Suma Qamaña in Aymara, and Küme Mogñen by Mapuches. The current study aims to understand music education in South American from 'Buen Vivir' to find decolonial pedagogies in a colonized territory, using the constant comparative method through procedures of categorization and coding in order to propose the plausibility of an emergent theory. Findings reveal three colonial models: 1) the Tridentine model implemented in conquest times represents the opposite side to 'Buen Vivir,' 2) the conservatory model provokes a spiritual crisis when faith is confronted with reason, and 3) the praxialism, which is seen as a colonial gatopardism (superficial change). From decolonialism, the musicking resonates with the sociomusical approach, favouring participation and construction of the sociomusical identity. We conclude that pedagogies based on 'Buen Vivir' may cure communal, intercultural, environmental, and spiritual relationships, both in natives and mestizo people from South America, as those sociomusical relationships serve as nutrients for personal and collective identity.