Intercultural relations in a private university of Mexico

Abstract

From a critical and decolonial approach to interculturality, intercultural relations are analyzed at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City based on the perceptions and experiences of a group of students. The analysis of the documentary corpus made up of written reflections elaborated by students, allows to identify a series of dimensions - socioeconomic, ethno-racial, ontological and epistemological, and intrapersonal - that, as a whole, account for how intercultural relations are lived in an mexican elite university. The contributions of the students offer interesting clues to promote the interculturalization of the university. Approaching this issue from a critical and decolonial perspective allow to undertake a process of analysis and reflection that flowed in two directions. On the one hand, to see and rethink the university from the coloniality of knowledge, and on the other, to see oneself to decolonize one’s own being. De-constructing the intercultural relationships that occur
in everyday university life and, at the same time, de-constructing themselves through an introspective process and personal self-reflection. This pioneering study represents an initial contribution to the understanding of the problems and implications related to the promotion of interculturality in private higher education institutions in Mexico.