Critical interculturality as an alternative for critical and decolonial education

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to explain, based on a bibliographic and critical research approach, the construction of the intercultural term and its importance for a critical and decolonial education. The following problem was considered: in view of the various discussions on cultural diversity, can initial teacher training favor the valorization of the most diverse cultural knowledge? It is considered that, despite discussions about cultural diversity, diverse cultures still experience challenges in relation to the recognition and respect for their differences and specificities. For the critical construction of reality to occur, it is necessary to have an education based on the valorization of culture, starting, a priori, from the decolonization of knowledge, in the perspective of critical interculturality, as a counter-hegemonic project. Therefore, the conclusions point to the need to decolonize knowledge in the academic environment, in Higher Education, specifically in the initial training of teachers, so that they can build a teaching practice that contributes to a critical and emancipator teaching in relation to cultural issues of diversity. In this construction, critical interculturality has been shown itself as a possibility to promote the critical emancipation of the individual, as it is a proposal for political education, which involves a conception of teaching that can contribute to social transformation, which can have repercussions in a society with less inequality and prejudice.