6. Rights of aboriginal peoples: a case study of the aboriginal API program at universidad del Zulia, Venezuela

Abstract

In this documentary paper the topic of aboriginal human rights in Venezuela is revised. It focuses on the achievements of the API-Aboriginal Program from Universidad del Zulia as a model proposed for the rest of Venezuelan universities. Based on our experience, we can perceive that aboriginal students have difficulties to adapt to the formal university system. For this reason, activities such as intercultural dialogues are being used in different schools and changes in the undergraduate curricular programs are being made. The purpose is to adjust the system to make it available and suitable for the aboriginal community based on their social, cultural, and economic reality. Finally, some advices are provided to conceive an intercultural educative model that integrates aboriginal conceptions of the world with that of the occidental educative model in which there is respect and dignity for the culture of ancestral communities.