Il Gioco: Una Mediazione Pedagogica Nella Riaffermazione Dell’identità Kichwa in Ecuador

The present article is the result of a qualitative, longitudinal, narrative and explanatory research that seeks to give systematicity to memories and play experiences of indigenous Kichwa childhood in Ecuador. In this, emphasis is placed on the importance of play in the family and community dimensions as a set of natural spaces of play experiences, which are constituted in pedagogical mediations for the development of cognitive skills and dexterities, practice of cultural traditions and customs, acquisition of ancestral knowledge and wisdom, approach to community principles and values, codification of collective commitments and responsibilities, satisfaction of needs and blossoming of affections. For this paper, first, a characterization of the cultural diversity of the Kichwa people in relation to the political-administrative subdivision of the country is presented. Next, an interpretation of their cosmovision is developed in order to understand what cultural practices are reproduced through play. Finally, learning processes are emphasized through a retrospective investigation, which takes up life stories narrated by indigenous youth and Kichwa students, who are pursuing basic degree studies at the Universidad Politecnica Salesiana, and recognize play as a pedagogical mediation for the reaffirmation of identity in learning from adult experiences through the creation and re-creation of concrete actions, which are based on: observing-doing, playing-imiting and listening-remembering.