Ideologías Lingüísticas en el Proyecto de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe (EIB) en Tres Escuelas Municipales de Temuco, Chile

Abstract

Since the period of economic liberalization in Chile in the 1990s, a series of education reforms have been passed to promote indigenous languages and cultures through bilingual education programs. Additionally, the use of Mapudungun, the language of Chile’s largest indigenous minority, the Mapuche, is on the decline. Some linguists and educators indicate the centrality of the Bilingual Intercultural Education Program (<i>Programa de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe</i> or PEIB) in revitalizing the language. This thesis examines the language ideologies of ten educators across three schools implementing PEIB in Temuco, Chile. The teaching practice and articulated language ideologies of these educators index the complexities of revitalizing the language not through the traditional spaces of home, community and religious ceremony, but through new forms of mediation and reinvention.