ABSTRACT

Indigenous peoples’ access to Brazilian universities has had an exclusionary history. With the aim of analyzing implications and consequences of their presence in these spaces, a federal university was the object of this intervention study due to its pioneering spirit. Indigenous students, teachers, and managers exposed, in focus groups and interviews, ‘unsaid’ aspects of indigenous higher education. It was verified how their contemporary movements leave the territories and reach the sector, dialoguing with the proposals for health promotion, sustainability, and Sustainable Development Goals. Advances, difficulties, contradictions, and cultural contributions reveal their importance and favor broader issues, offering new perspectives on the processes developed.

KEYWORDS
Sustainable development; Interdisciplinary practices; Affirmative policies; Health promotion; Health of indigenous populations

Introduction

Emphasis on health as a fundamental right and a global social goal has been given since the Alma-Ata Conference^{11 Organização Mundial da Saúde. Declaração de Alma-Ata. Conferência internacional sobre cuidados primários de saúde. Alma-Ata, URSS: OMS; 6-12 set. 1978.}. Similarly, concerns about environmental and social issues worldwide have grown significantly, culminating in the agreement on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030^{22 Organização das Nações Unidas do Brasil. Momento de ação global para as pessoas e o planeta [Internet]. Brasília, DF: Nações Unidas Brasil; 2015 [acesso em 2018 jun 25]. Disponível em: https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/
https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/...} . It has been concluded that to achieve these premises, action and interrelation of many other social and economic sectors are necessary, opening up also greater possibilities to verify potentials of the education-health interrelation.

The paradigm of health promotion^{33 Ministério da saúde (BR), Secretaria de vigilância em saúde, Secretaria de atenção à saúde. Política nacional de promoção da saúde. 3. ed. Brasília, DF: Ministério da Saúde; 2010. (Série b. Textos básicos de saúde. Série pactos pela saúde 2006, v. 7.).}, as a broader look at health justifications and outcomes, had already signaled the importance of peace, education, housing, food, income, ecosystem stability, social justice, and equity for health through healthy public policies, favorable environments, by strengthening community actions, and developing personal skills. More recently, this perspective has given greater emphasis to the socio-environmental determination of health, relating to the need for health promotion and sustainability actions in the territories^{44 Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Programa institucional territórios sustentáveis e saudáveis: termo de referência conceitual e metodológico e proposta de governança. Rio de janeiro: Fiocruz; 2019.}.

In the educational sector, as effective measures to reduce inequalities, the World Declaration on Education for All occurred in the 1990s, justifying the universalization of access to education and promoting equity through improving its quality^{55 Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, a Ciência e a Cultura. Declaração mundial sobre educação para todos, jomtien [Internet]. [local desconhecido]: Unesco; 1990 [acesso em 2024 mar 8]. Disponível em: http://www.dominiopublico.gov.br/download/texto/ue000108.pdf
http://www.dominiopublico.gov.br/downloa...} . When it comes to the cultural diversity of Brazil, especially the scenario of indigenous school education, this aspect has not yet fully consolidated.

Through struggles and due to a historical debt, the Law of Guidelines and Bases (LDB) of 1996^{66 Presidência da República (BR). Lei nº 9.394, de 20 de dezembro de 1996. Estabelece as diretrizes e bases da educação nacional. Diário Oficial da União. 23 Dez 1996.}, in its art. 78, establishes the duty to ensure indigenous people the recovery of their memories, the reaffirmation of their ethnic identities, and the appreciation of their languages and sciences as a form of empowerment. At the same time, the LDB states that access to information and technical and scientific knowledge from other societies should be facilitated for them.

Thus, indigenous school education has been transforming and enhancing as an instrument for valuing and systematizing the knowledge and traditional practices of these communities, accessing Western knowledge, reducing inequalities, and guaranteeing rights^{77 Brasil. Constituição, 1988. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil. Brasília, DF: Senado Federal; 1988.}.

The compulsory schooling of indigenous children, now with the right to respect for their ways of life, was an establishing step in indigenous empowerment issues in the sector, as well as generating new questions about how to reconcile different worldviews at their various levels and how to reconstruct a historically colonizing space. Contemporary society does not value the practices and knowledge of the various indigenous peoples, still imposing on them the culture of capitalist society.

The dismantling of the State in several countries, after the advance of neoliberalism, highlighted these exclusions of groups in various sectors, the growth of social inequalities, and an increase in concerns about the distribution of wealth within social formations and the inclusion of more disadvantaged population groups^{88 Pires-Alves FA, Cueto M. A década de Alma-Ata: a crise do desenvolvimento e a saúde internacional. Ciênc saúde coletiva. 2017;22(7):2135-2144. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232017227.02032017
https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232017227...} . Poverty and inequalities, in this sense, present themselves as expressions of neoliberal agendas that prioritize economic development to the detriment of social and human development.

To contemplate all that was proposed in this new configuration of the indigenous educational sector, the need for indigenous teacher training arises. The figure of the indigenous teacher, speaker of the language and knowledgeable of customs, was raised as essential to achieve these premises and to break the colonizing-missionary pattern, as a mediator and manager of traditional knowledge and the transmission of Western knowledge^{99 Nascimento AC, Vieira CMN. A escola indígena Guarani e Kaiowá em Mato Grosso do Sul: experiência emancipatória de educação. Anais do 26º Simpósio Nacional de História; 2011 jun; São Paulo. São Paulo: ANPUH; 2011.}.

This facilitated the access of Brazilian indigenous peoples to Higher Education Institutions (HEI), initially, to undergraduate courses aimed at teaching elementary, middle and high school, starting in 1998. Since then, offers of indigenous higher education training aimed at teaching in indigenous education and Indigenous Undergraduate courses for middle and high school have emerged^{1010 Gonçalves E, Mello F. Educação Indígena. Paraná: Colégio Estadual Wolf Klabin; 2009.}.

Through the National Education Plan of 2001^{1111 Presidência da República (BR). Lei nº 13.005, de 25 de junho de 2014. Aprova o Plano Nacional de Educação - PNE e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União. 26 Jun 2014.}, objectives and goals were established for a differentiated, intercultural, bilingual, and quality indigenous school education. It is also noted that there were different moments of offering vacancies for various areas of knowledge, and other policies emerged for these peoples’ access to higher education, such as the proposal of affirmative actions^{1212 Presidência da República. Lei 11.645, de 10 de marco de 2008. Altera a Lei no 9.394, de 20 de dezembro de 1996, modificada pela Lei no 10.639, de 9 de janeiro de 2003, que estabelece as diretrizes e bases da educação nacional, para incluir no currículo oficial da rede de ensino a obrigatoriedade da temática “História e Cultura Afro-Brasileira e Indígena”. Diário Oficial da União. 11 Mar 2008.}.

‘Indigenous school education’ favored indigenous access to universities, supporting the need for differentiated epistemological and pedagogical treatment, as well as exposing a Eurocentric profile of education, even in a multicultural country like Brazil^{1313 Ribeiro AERA. Representatividade indígena no ensino superior para a promoção da saúde e alcance dos objetivos do desenvolvimento sustentável: uma análise institucional [tese]. Franca: Universidade de Franca; 2021. 211 p.}.

These events justified and justify various social movements in ‘territories’^{44 Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Programa institucional territórios sustentáveis e saudáveis: termo de referência conceitual e metodológico e proposta de governança. Rio de janeiro: Fiocruz; 2019.} marked by the histories and life experiences of populations, seeking effective answers and resolutions to their particular problems and colonizing models. For example, education has still been a privilege of few and has been inaccessible to Brazilian indigenous peoples for a long period^{99 Nascimento AC, Vieira CMN. A escola indígena Guarani e Kaiowá em Mato Grosso do Sul: experiência emancipatória de educação. Anais do 26º Simpósio Nacional de História; 2011 jun; São Paulo. São Paulo: ANPUH; 2011.}.

According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE)^{1414 Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Censo demográfico - características gerais da população, religião e pessoas com deficiência [Internet]. [Rio de Janeiro]: IBGE; 2012 [acesso em 2019 mar 29]. Disponível em: http://www.ibge.gov.br
http://www.ibge.gov.br...} , in HEIs the indigenous category is non-existent among Brazilians aged 25 or older with completed higher education, with a difference of 4.7% of blacks and 5.3% of mixed-race individuals against 15% of whites. The absence of indigenous representation in HEIs reveals profound social issues that also relate to the exclusion of knowledge and possibilities for social changes or tools for promoting health and sustainability through a holistic conception of intersectorality, empowerment, social participation, equity, and multi-strategic actions^{1515 Organização Mundial da Saúde. Segunda conferência internacional sobre promoção da saúde; 5-9 abr 1988; Adelaide (Aus): OMS; 1988.}.

In Brazil, the constitution of rights for indigenous peoples, such as health and education, occurred concurrently with global moments^{66 Presidência da República (BR). Lei nº 9.394, de 20 de dezembro de 1996. Estabelece as diretrizes e bases da educação nacional. Diário Oficial da União. 23 Dez 1996.,77 Brasil. Constituição, 1988. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil. Brasília, DF: Senado Federal; 1988.}; it envisaged their inclusion - at least documentarily - ensuring their right to school education and considering their cultural specificities. However, despite normative advances in education rights, these are still without the desired effectiveness and specificity.

Struggles and movements from territories and collectives, as well as education, continue to be necessary. Moreover, the involvement of groups in inequalities can favor empowerment for solving various problems experienced by them, such as the environmental impacts that reflect in other sectors like health. Furthermore, ensuring ‘sustainable and healthy territories’^{44 Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Programa institucional territórios sustentáveis e saudáveis: termo de referência conceitual e metodológico e proposta de governança. Rio de janeiro: Fiocruz; 2019.} can be a potential aspect for resolving larger issues such as achieving the SDGs^{22 Organização das Nações Unidas do Brasil. Momento de ação global para as pessoas e o planeta [Internet]. Brasília, DF: Nações Unidas Brasil; 2015 [acesso em 2018 jun 25]. Disponível em: https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/
https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/...} .

This study aims to present a result excerpt from doctoral research^{1313 Ribeiro AERA. Representatividade indígena no ensino superior para a promoção da saúde e alcance dos objetivos do desenvolvimento sustentável: uma análise institucional [tese]. Franca: Universidade de Franca; 2021. 211 p.} that verified how indigenous representation in higher education can promote health and sustainability beyond territories, dialoguing with current world premises.

Material and methods

Research field

This work was developed in a co-participatory manner, having as its object of study the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar). The choice of this university was because it was the first federal institution to implement affirmative policies exclusively aimed at indigenous people in all higher education courses, not only in teacher training, since, before that, these people had access to HEIs mainly through state and local policies.

This institution was analyzed by researchers who were not involved in its political-pedagogical proposal. Thus, the project was submitted for approval by the Research Ethics Committees with human beings (CEP) of the two involved HEIs, Universidade de Franca and UFSCar, with the Certificate of Presentation of Ethical Appreciation (CAAE) No. 21774619.4.0000.5495 from the coordinating center, under opinion No. 4.690.243; and the CAAE No. 21774619.4.3001.5504 from the co-participating center, under opinion No. 4.192.614, in accordance with Resolution No. 510, of April 7, 2016, of the National Health Council (CNS), for the human and social sciences.

In 2005, a Commission for Affirmative Actions was established at UFSCar to collectively build proposals for the Affirmative Actions Program (PAA). Through debates about issues related to educational, economic, social, and racial inequalities that constitute Brazilian society, an internal policy on the subject was created^{1616 Universidade Federal de São Carlos. Centro de Culturas Indígenas [Internet]. São Carlos: UFSCar; [data desconhecida] [acesso em 2024 mar 20]. Disponível em: https://cciufscar.wixsite.com/ufscar
https://cciufscar.wixsite.com/ufscar...} .

Since the beginning of national affirmative action policies in 2008, through the PAA, the selection process for these people occurs in 64 options of on-campus undergraduate courses with exams applied in strategic cities such as Cuiabá, Manaus, Recife, and São Paulo. This process requires applications with a declaration of ethnicity and link with the indigenous community, the socio-educational questionnaire, and the completion of entrance exams for the various campuses^{1616 Universidade Federal de São Carlos. Centro de Culturas Indígenas [Internet]. São Carlos: UFSCar; [data desconhecida] [acesso em 2024 mar 20]. Disponível em: https://cciufscar.wixsite.com/ufscar
https://cciufscar.wixsite.com/ufscar...} .

The collective of indigenous students at the institution is currently composed of more than 400 students from various indigenous peoples. The initial proposal of this study involved indigenous scholarship students in the health area, but, at a second moment, it was expanded to the entire collective of students at the institution from all fields of knowledge; and, at a third moment, the group of professors directly linked to the training of these students and the management of the PAA was added, for a better understanding of the context and the role of these social actors in promoting health and sustainability^{1717 Ribeiro AERA, Beretta RCS, Mestriner W. Promoção da saúde e efetivação da Reforma Sanitária no contexto dos povos originários. Saúde debate. 2019;43(esp8):292-304. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-11042019S821
https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-11042019S82...} .

Methodological procedures

Due to the global pandemic of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the data collection methodology was adjusted from face-to-face focus groups to an online format in a total of four meetings of two hours^{1818 Moore T, Mckee K, Mcloughlin PJ. Online focus groups and qualitative research in the social sciences: their merits and limitations in a study of housing and youth, People, Place and Policy. 2015;9(1):17-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3351/ppp.0009.0001.0002
https://doi.org/10.3351/ppp.0009.0001.00... ,1919 Lobe B. Best practices for synchronous online focus groups. In: Barbour R, Morgan D editores. A new era in focus group research. London: Palgrave Macmillan; 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58614-8_11
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58614-...} . The data collection was carried out with groups of indigenous students and professors/managers and complemented with virtual semi-structured interviews^{2020 Holstein JA. Inside interviewing: New lenses, new concerns. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications; 2003.}.

As criteria for including research participants, the student should be part of the group of indigenous students, with the exclusion criterion being the participant’s minority (under 18 years old). Similarly, for the inclusion of the participating professor, they should be part of the group of professors linked to indigenous training, and the exclusion criterion was the non-involvement with the training of indigenous students of the HEI under study.

The sample of indigenous students who signed the Free and Informed Consent Form (TCLE) was heterogeneous: undergraduates from various fields of knowledge, ranging from the health field to the human and exact sciences. This group was composed of five female and three male students, of which seven effectively participated - four female and three male students. Of the total participants, five indigenous ethnicities were represented, one of them symbolized by three students.

The sample of professors who signed the TCLE was heterogeneous regarding gender, with two females and one male. Their functions at the HEI were also heterogeneous: one was a professor/manager in the education field who experienced the entire institutional political consolidation of vacancies for these groups; another had recently joined the health faculty; and the third was a health professor with current management roles in the institutional PAA.

For the analysis and treatment of this data, the Content Analysis methodology of Bardin^{2121 Bardin L. Análise de conteúdo. São Paulo: Edições 70; 2011. 229 p.} was used without software resources. The classification of categories started with ‘floating reading’, pre-analysis, applying the rules of exhaustiveness, representativity, and homogeneity in the transcribed content of the communications and the principles of pertinence, adapting them to the research objectives and exclusivity.

In the end, the data were coded into registration units to select the categories, as forms of thought that reflected this pioneering reality of ‘indigenous higher education’ mainly in this work, emphasizing here the importance of these social actors in these spaces for the promotion of health and achieving the SDGs^{22 Organização das Nações Unidas do Brasil. Momento de ação global para as pessoas e o planeta [Internet]. Brasília, DF: Nações Unidas Brasil; 2015 [acesso em 2018 jun 25]. Disponível em: https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/
https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/...} . From the initial 39 categories, 4 final categories on the theme were reached, proposing, in the current work, to address in greater depth the fourth category, which concerns the contributions of indigenous higher education for promoting health in communities and planetary health.

Since the present study involved human beings, as previously mentioned, the project was submitted for approval by the CEP of the involved HEIs.

Results and discussion

The first category is related to the advances in access and student retention of indigenous people at the university, the configurations of these HEIs, and their internal policies that favor this rightful access, while also revealing collective movements of the indigenous people and their communities, and the political empowerment of these peoples to occupy spaces previously denied to them.

The ordinances of the documents from the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI)^{2222 Fundação Nacional do Índio (BR). Portaria da presidência nº 63, de 23 de janeiro. Boletim de serviço da FUNAI. 2006;19(2).,2323 Fundação Nacional do Índio (BR). Portaria da presidência nº 849, de 4 de agosto. Boletim de serviço da FUNAI. 2009;22(15-16).} show that there has been a demand for various modalities of qualified professional exercise, in the field of indigenous public policies and projects aimed at the communities, to be increasingly occupied by their members, in the most diverse fields of knowledge. This was also confirmed with the inclusion of indigenous people in the University for All Program (PROUNI) as part of a broader policy for access to HEIs in the country^{2424 Vianna FLB, Ferreira EML, Landa BS, et al. Indígenas no ensino superior: as experiências do programa Rede de Saberes, em Mato Grosso do Sul. Rio de Janeiro: E-Papers; 2014.}, in addition to the possibility of equity in access to HEIs for indigenous people through affirmative action recorded from Bill No. 180/2008 and approved in 2012 in the form of Law No. 12.711/2012^{2525 Frias L. As cotas raciais e sociais em universidades públicas são injustas? Direito Est Soc. 2012;(41):154-164. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17808/des.41.157
https://doi.org/10.17808/des.41.157...} .

Regarding the advances in the amount of resources offered and innovations for the retention of indigenous students in 2008, in the state of Paraná, which had state affirmative policies in a single ‘Entrance Exam for Indigenous Peoples of Paraná’, aspects of the retention policies for indigenous students showed that most declared that the assistance offered was insufficient^{2626 Paulino MM. Povos indígenas e ações afirmativas: o caso do Paraná [dissertação]. Rio de Janeiro: Faculdade de Educação, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; 2008. 162 p.}.

UFSCar has a Student Assistance Program, including Food grant, Housing grants, and Activity grants currently extended to incoming indigenous students. Additionally, in the first two years of the PAA, it was funded by the Ford Foundation for scientific initiation scholarships. Currently, to support the retention of incoming students through reserved seats, there is the Institutional Program of Scientific Initiation Scholarships - Affirmative Actions (PIBIC-AF), PET/Knowledge Connections, and PET/Health Actions and Tutoring.

This was an aspect that almost did not need to be raised during the discussion with the students participating in this research, but despite the advances, it was also noted that, in a comparison between periods, there were setbacks in proposals already institutionalized in this HEI, as well as throughout the country.

In more than ten years of affirmative actions in federal HEIs, it can also be said that there have been improvements in student life for these groups thanks to the indigenous student movement itself, including new integrations into institutional proposals. Their protagonism was present as resistance, as reported by the manager participant:

Such institutional improvements, in addition to aiding the retention and training of indigenous students, also enable empowerment through these collective social forces that have been incorporated over time, even in the formation of an Indigenous Cultures Center (CCI) at the HEI^{1616 Universidade Federal de São Carlos. Centro de Culturas Indígenas [Internet]. São Carlos: UFSCar; [data desconhecida] [acesso em 2024 mar 20]. Disponível em: https://cciufscar.wixsite.com/ufscar
https://cciufscar.wixsite.com/ufscar...} .

The second category is related to the difficulties faced by indigenous students and in working with these groups, such as issues related to learning gaps, stigma, prejudice, and discrimination, reproductions of the national reality itself.

It can be considered that the organization of various HEIs in Brazil to receive these groups is irregular. This often occurs without deeply considering their specificities, resulting in dropouts and suffering of these students already described in the literature^{2727 Herbetta AF, Nazareno E. Sofrimento acadêmico e violência epistêmica: considerações iniciais sobre dores vividas em trajetórias acadêmicas indígenas. Tellus. 2020;20(41):57-82. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20435/tellus.v20i41.640
https://doi.org/10.20435/tellus.v20i41.6...} , as well as present in the results of the second category of this study, as highlighted by the data below:

The access issue does not only involve intrinsic matters of those arriving, such as low education, but also the institutional development itself to deal with the cultural issue or promote interculturality, aspects that should be incorporated into curricula, training, events, and wherever else they fit^{2828 Lima ACS, Barroso-Hoffmann M, organizadores. Desafios para uma educação superior para os povos indígenas no Brasil - políticas públicas de ação afirmativa e direitos culturais diferenciados. Rio de Janeiro: Laced; 2007.}.

These points reflect the role of universities and indigenous representation in these spaces, dialoguing with the achievement of some of the SDGs, such as SDG 10, which addresses the reduction of inequalities, SDG 4, on access to quality education, and SDG 16, in promoting peace and justice^{22 Organização das Nações Unidas do Brasil. Momento de ação global para as pessoas e o planeta [Internet]. Brasília, DF: Nações Unidas Brasil; 2015 [acesso em 2018 jun 25]. Disponível em: https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/
https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/...} .

The third category is related to the contradictions and contributions of scientific knowledge and traditional indigenous knowledge in the HEI and the institutional ways of dealing with these issues. The current study reveals that the ‘meeting’ of diverse worldviews between indigenous and non-indigenous people and the most diverse ethnicities questions the epistemology of the predominantly Western institutional university environment, as well as some rigidity in modifying this structure.

It was expected that the university space opening (or being opened) to the various indigenous peoples would be characterized as “a strategic place [...] for the defense of indigenous rights, for the management of territories, strengthening organizations”^{2828 Lima ACS, Barroso-Hoffmann M, organizadores. Desafios para uma educação superior para os povos indígenas no Brasil - políticas públicas de ação afirmativa e direitos culturais diferenciados. Rio de Janeiro: Laced; 2007.(8)}, relating possibilities of autonomy and collective empowerment. These spaces have made progress in including these groups, as well as reveal muzzles or contradictions for these prophecies by not recognizing or dialoguing with indigenous traditional knowledge.

Despite these aspects, a key point highlighted in this investigative process, and which is emphasized in the current work - as it breaks with the idea that seats for indigenous people only benefit an excluded minority - is the fourth category found. This last category is related to the contributions of indigenous higher education for promoting health and sustainability in indigenous communities, as well as in the world, dialoguing with the achievement of the SDGs for 2030^{22 Organização das Nações Unidas do Brasil. Momento de ação global para as pessoas e o planeta [Internet]. Brasília, DF: Nações Unidas Brasil; 2015 [acesso em 2018 jun 25]. Disponível em: https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/
https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/...} .

The access of various indigenous peoples in Brazil to education, more specifically at the higher level, repositions these groups and individuals as sociopolitical actors, giving voice and considering their propositions more directly and reflecting in their territories^{2828 Lima ACS, Barroso-Hoffmann M, organizadores. Desafios para uma educação superior para os povos indígenas no Brasil - políticas públicas de ação afirmativa e direitos culturais diferenciados. Rio de Janeiro: Laced; 2007.}. For example, the training of teachers who ensure the preservation of culture or other professionals in the field of land tenure and sustainability.

However, as the literature has already indicated, depending on how this institutionalization of indigenous higher education occurs, these points and the perspective of interculturality, the training of non-indigenous people for the ethnic-racial issue, are favored or not<sup>2626 Paulino MM. Povos indígenas e ações afirmativas: o caso do Paraná [dissertação]. Rio de Janeiro: Faculdade de Educação, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; 2008. 162 p.

27 Herbetta AF, Nazareno E. Sofrimento acadêmico e violência epistêmica: considerações iniciais sobre dores vividas em trajetórias acadêmicas indígenas. Tellus. 2020;20(41):57-82. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20435/tellus.v20i41.640
https://doi.org/10.20435/tellus.v20i41.6... -2828 Lima ACS, Barroso-Hoffmann M, organizadores. Desafios para uma educação superior para os povos indígenas no Brasil - políticas públicas de ação afirmativa e direitos culturais diferenciados. Rio de Janeiro: Laced; 2007.</sup>. We are facing a possibility of change for other sectors of society, to rethink the rigidity of HEIs and to apply the real concept of the term university as a universe of knowledge.

To strengthen this finding, in 2014, the National Education Plan, through Law No. 13.005, of June 25^{2929 Ministério da Educação (BR); Ministério da Justiça, Comitê Nacional de Educação em Direitos Humanos. Plano nacional de educação em direitos humanos. Brasília, DF: Secretaria de Direitos Humanos da Presidência da República; 2006.}, directed the promotion of the principles of respect for human rights, diversity, and socio-environmental sustainability to overcome educational inequalities, promote citizenship, and eradicate discrimination^{22 Organização das Nações Unidas do Brasil. Momento de ação global para as pessoas e o planeta [Internet]. Brasília, DF: Nações Unidas Brasil; 2015 [acesso em 2018 jun 25]. Disponível em: https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/
https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/...} .

In 2017, the Ministry of Education, together with the Ministry of Justice and Citizenship, launched the ‘University Pact for the Promotion of Respect for Diversity, the Culture of Peace, and Human Rights’ for adherence by HEIs and supporting entities^{3030 Ministério da Justiça e Cidadania (BR); Ministério da Educação. Acordo de cooperação nº01 de 2016. Para a instituição do pacto nacional universitário. Pela promoção do respeito à diversidade, da cultura de paz e dos direitos humanos. Brasília, DF: Ministério da justiça e cidadania; 2017.}.

By emphasizing the issues of cultural contact and the joint construction of solutions for global development and health, it can be understood that access to higher education and professional qualification for the various indigenous peoples of Brazil means ways to combat poverty, promote prosperity, and well-being for their communities, but also reflect on the benefit of all^{22 Organização das Nações Unidas do Brasil. Momento de ação global para as pessoas e o planeta [Internet]. Brasília, DF: Nações Unidas Brasil; 2015 [acesso em 2018 jun 25]. Disponível em: https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/
https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/...} .

It can be said that there is, in practice, an overlap of purposes: “[...] they do not aim to train and so give back to the community, but they do, it’s funny because they come here, and they end up giving back” (Manager participant).

When motivated to discuss the purposes of higher education and whether they thought it had any relation to health, all the indigenous participants brought a perspective to their communities of origin, or with this collective indigenous movement, and the health-education intersectorality:

Other statements also reveal how education is used for cultural preservation and problem-solving, consequently for promoting health. In this sense, there was an indigenous student report of appropriation of the Permanent Health Education modality^{3232 Ministério da Saúde (BR), Secretaria de Gestão do Trabalho e da Educação na Saúde, Departamento de Gestão da Educação em Saúde. Política Nacional de Educação Permanente em Saúde. Brasília, DF: Ministério da Saúde; 2009.}, a national policy that also links the health and education sectors, for the training of indigenous health agents, but on topics of their own traditional culture:

For the social actors in this study, there is a recognition of this intersectoral proximity, regardless of their field of training, due to their worldviews: “[...] we are very attentive to health issues [...] education closely follows health, indigenous education” (Indigenous participant).

Additionally, there is the role of the indigenous higher education student as an educator in their reality, as they often have the highest level of education and receive social responsibilities because of this^{3333 Ministério da Saúde (BR). Secretaria de gestão do trabalho e da educação na saúde. Departamento de gestão da educação na saúde. Programa de qualificação de Agentes Indígenas de Saúde (AIS) e Agentes Indígenas de Saneamento (Aisan). Brasília, DF: Ministério da Saúde; 2016.}. All activities experienced in the academic realm will inspire educational actions in their home realities, as illustrated by a student’s account.

In the first years of their undergraduate studies, they developed activities at the Social Assistance Reference Centers in the university region, aimed at the elderly public in the field of occupational therapy. The indigenous participant reported gaining a full understanding of the physiological changes that occur in the elderly, such as loss of taste, muscle, vision, and smell alterations, which interfere with their lives and how their families deal with these changes.

After developing this activity in the course and returning to her community during the holidays, she invited another indigenous student from her community to take this knowledge and learning to their people. The elders were very happy and admired to know that the students had already learned these things and taught the community about all these changes that happen with the elderly. Even before graduating, she managed to apply this health knowledge in an adapted way and promote health in her community^{3333 Ministério da Saúde (BR). Secretaria de gestão do trabalho e da educação na saúde. Departamento de gestão da educação na saúde. Programa de qualificação de Agentes Indígenas de Saúde (AIS) e Agentes Indígenas de Saneamento (Aisan). Brasília, DF: Ministério da Saúde; 2016.}.

Despite the reverse path of knowledge promotion, the LDB^{66 Presidência da República (BR). Lei nº 9.394, de 20 de dezembro de 1996. Estabelece as diretrizes e bases da educação nacional. Diário Oficial da União. 23 Dez 1996.}, in two articles (Title VII, arts. 78 and 79), officially points to a type of differentiated education for indigenous people that ensures the recovery and reaffirmation of their specific knowledge, in addition to access to non-indigenous knowledge. The data produced in this study reveal the path to accessing non-indigenous knowledge; however, there are still few institutional movements for the reaffirmation of specific indigenous knowledge^{3434 Urquiza AHA, Nascimento AC, Espíndola MAJ. Jovens indígenas e o ensino superior em Mato Grosso do Sul: desafios e perspectivas na busca por autonomia e respeito à diversidade. Tellus. 2011;11(20):79-97.}. This is revealed in a teacher’s statement:

Higher education courses do not have the exclusive dedication of teachers or researchers for this purpose, a curriculum that dialogues with this premise, and more importantly, do not have indigenous teachers^{3535 Silva JAC. Docência indígena no extremo oeste brasileiro: uma experiência de formação em andamento. REA. 2013;21(esp):76-102. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17058/rea.v0i0.3301
https://doi.org/10.17058/rea.v0i0.3301...} . Thus, in HEIs, it is still proposed to dialogue more with affirmative action policies, favoring access and educational equity, and not so much the indigenous student movement itself to address specific indigenous themes in HEIs.

This data could favor these intersectoral aspects present in educational policies and the health promotion proposal, and also favor many other issues experienced by these students within HEIs and in society, such as the invisibility of their millennial knowledge, prejudice, and the recognition of indigenous diversity^{3434 Urquiza AHA, Nascimento AC, Espíndola MAJ. Jovens indígenas e o ensino superior em Mato Grosso do Sul: desafios e perspectivas na busca por autonomia e respeito à diversidade. Tellus. 2011;11(20):79-97.}.

In HEIs, funding for this purpose is rare or punctual, as well as the mobilization and awareness of the academic community for this purpose. Traditional indigenous medicine, millennial, is present in the students’ reports either due to the inequities of Western health or by the community’s own choices^{3131 Pereira ER, Biruel EP, Oliveira LSS, et al. A experiência de um serviço de saúde especializado no atendimento a pacientes indígenas. Saude Soc. 2014;23(3):1077-1090. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-12902014000300027
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-1290201400...} , and it could also benefit everyone.

Interculturality, in this sense, is configured, in a way, as a form of resistance, exemplifying how the various indigenous peoples have appropriated and appropriate representations that are not their own, configuring new perspectives^{3636 Monteiro P, organizadora. Deus na aldeia, missionários, índios e mediação cultural. São Paulo: Globo, 2006.}.

The contextualization of this sector throughout the discussions favored the understanding of the impact that indigenous higher education could have on health promotion, even indirectly, and how they deal with the issues of indigenous health services and their ancestral health knowledge:

The various realities of the physical structure of indigenous health were revealed in all statements. COVID-19 was also discussed regarding traditional medications and worldviews on what would be best for the health of the sick at that time:

Significant higher education could better contribute to these longings specific to the communities that send their members for this training, filling gaps and health inequities in these territories. About the need for diverse professionals, besides the multidisciplinary team that usually presents in the communities, some indigenous student statements signal potentialities not yet practiced in the territories:

Access to HEIs, therefore, favors the awareness of health rights. After contact with various areas of knowledge during training, there is recognition of the various fields that are still not accessible to most indigenous peoples in the country. Not only in the territories but also for access to various levels of care, the training of indigenous people and the approach to the indigenous theme contribute to indigenous health^{1717 Ribeiro AERA, Beretta RCS, Mestriner W. Promoção da saúde e efetivação da Reforma Sanitária no contexto dos povos originários. Saúde debate. 2019;43(esp8):292-304. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-11042019S821
https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-11042019S82...} , as present in a teacher’s statement:

One of the central axes of dialogue between the health promotion paradigm, sustainability, and indigenous access to HEIs is empowerment^{33 Ministério da saúde (BR), Secretaria de vigilância em saúde, Secretaria de atenção à saúde. Política nacional de promoção da saúde. 3. ed. Brasília, DF: Ministério da Saúde; 2010. (Série b. Textos básicos de saúde. Série pactos pela saúde 2006, v. 7.).,3737 Berth J. O que é empoderamento? Belo Horizonte: Letramento; 2018.}. This appears in many of the participations in this research and places training as a path to achieving improvements in the original territories, in addition to expanding the communities’ ‘power’ of choice, which also dialogues with the 2030^{22 Organização das Nações Unidas do Brasil. Momento de ação global para as pessoas e o planeta [Internet]. Brasília, DF: Nações Unidas Brasil; 2015 [acesso em 2018 jun 25]. Disponível em: https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/
https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/...} premises of reducing inequalities, offering quality health, eradicating poverty, not to mention all the objectives related to the environment and sustainability, which are directly related to the original communities^{3838 Krenak A. Ideias para adiar o fim do mundo. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras; 2019.}. An example of this can be seen in the participant’s statement:

Regarding the possibilities of contribution, Urquiza, Nascimento, and Espíndola, in 2011^{3434 Urquiza AHA, Nascimento AC, Espíndola MAJ. Jovens indígenas e o ensino superior em Mato Grosso do Sul: desafios e perspectivas na busca por autonomia e respeito à diversidade. Tellus. 2011;11(20):79-97.}, addressed higher education not only as a matter of social inclusion but also as the recognition and promotion of differentiated values and worldviews. For the empowerment of the territories and outside them, indigenous peoples seek in higher education the possibility to strengthen their indigenous knowledge, re-elaborate mechanisms of production and negotiation of knowledge so that they can manage their territories, plan and develop projects for the benefit of their communities^{3737 Berth J. O que é empoderamento? Belo Horizonte: Letramento; 2018.}.

One of the teachers participating in the group also addressed this construction and the empowerment of these students within the higher education process, and the issue of resilience.

Universities, in accompanying indigenous students and their representatives, would be, in a way, contributing to strengthening these students’ autonomy and resolving their individual and collective demands. This aspect was revealed in the manager’s speech about representatives of these groups who ‘organize’ institutional movements, as well as about the empowerment movement of indigenous social actors:

In this reflection, it is questioned whether the choice of who will attend the university comes from the community, and how HEIs can strengthen and interfere in these movements in their internal policies. There are collective and individual perspectives of access - specific vacancies or quota law respectively - but also the recognition that the movement of indigenous access to this HEI happens linked to the community, as present in the manager’s statement:

This genuine movement of resistance, even with its radical and offensive characteristics, or the creation of a new power, also reveals the power relations to which these peoples have long been subjected, but who have resisted for more than 500 years and are organizing to reclaim it^{3838 Krenak A. Ideias para adiar o fim do mundo. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras; 2019.}.

Final considerations

The pursuit of policies that favor their projects of autonomy and sustainability also in university spaces is presented as a struggle. Thus, the devices addressed here proposed to emphasize the indigenous perspective on this entire process, aiming to generate new perspectives and future outlooks.

In this sense, it is also necessary to consider what represents the promotion of traditional indigenous knowledge within HEIs. These points demand internal adjustments in universities and consequently generate resistance. However, this work also represents a possibility to verify how the indigenous presence in HEIs goes beyond their own needs and those of their territories, modifying institutional and social structures and promoting sustainability on the planet.

Access to diverse worldviews, intercultural mechanisms, and diversity itself in these spaces promote health and sustainability: by respecting differences and consequently reducing violence, promoting social equality, offering quality education and health, and expanding the view of Brazilian reality and minorities worldwide.

Their achievements can broaden discussions on more complex and global issues and need to be strengthened by policies that value and reclaim the culture of indigenous peoples. The current moment reveals this necessity: indigenous representation in higher education needs to be revisited not only due to the colonial model but also because it can be an advance, such as the creation of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil and the Ministry of Racial Equality currently, for promoting health and sustainability beyond the territories.

References

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