Transforming regional higher education: the decolonising role of Indigenous-inspired universities in Latin America

This paper examines the transformative role of Indigenous-inspired universities in Latin America within the broader context of higher education and decolonial thinking. his term encompasses a variety of institutions, including both state-recognised and grassroots, autonomous ones. Despite their differences in origin and structure, these institutions are united by their commitment to Indigenous knowledge systems, languages, and community-centred governance. Using the modernity/coloniality framework, the paper explores how 35 such institutions navigate epistemic tensions between Indigenous worldviews and dominant academic norms. Drawing on crosscountry mapping of such universities, document reviews and in-depth interviews with representatives from the Universidad Veracruzana Intercultural in Mexico and the Universidad Ixil in Guatemala, the analysis reveals the strategies these institutions use to address these tensions. It examines their missions, governance models and operational challenges, focusing on how they create hybrid and contested spaces that both accommodate and resist hegemonic epistemic and academic frameworks. The findings demonstrate that these spaces encourage epistemic insurgencies and disrupt hierarchical knowledge systems, providing opportunities for alternative approaches to knowledge and existence. The study highlights the diversity of Indigenous-inspired universities. While state-recognised institutions often face tensions between cosmetic reforms and systemic transformation, grassroots initiatives pursue radical autonomy, though they also confront challenges such as financial fragility and limited recognition. Walsh's concept of 'cracks' frames these universities as sites of resistance within dominant systems, where decolonial struggles unfold at multiple levels, revealing the complexity and plurality of epistemic re-existence.