Bilingual education policy and practice in the Andes: Ideological paradox and intercultural possibility

Recent developments in language policy and education reform in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, paralleling similar developments in the United States and elsewhere, have opened up new possibilities for indigenous languages and their speakers through bilingual intercultural education. Examining the use and meanings of the term interculturality in policy documents and short practitioner narratives, this article explores the ideological paradox inherent in transforming a standardizing education into a diversifying one and in constructing a national identity that is also multilingual and multicultural. It concludes with implications for educational practice in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms.