Revista Arista Crítica; Universidad Libre; multidisciplinaria
Universidad Libre, Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación
Latin American cities in times of crisis
Copyright (c) 2024 Arista Crítica https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The rise and fall of the construction industry in Mexico: Dependent bourgeoisie, state policy, and urbanization
This paper analyzes the development of the construction industry in Mexico. To do so, it proposes to place the development of this economic branch in three stages framed by its rise and crisis: the origin of the construction industry, the formation of national companies and the development of monopolies. In this way, first, the origin of the construction industry in Mexico and the emergence of its relationship with the Mexican State are analyzed. Later, the stage of formation of national construction companies in the process of urbanization of the country is explored. Finally, the conditions that allowed the development of construction monopolies are exposed, the main characteristics of their businesses, the relations of collusion with the state figure and the beginning of the association of the national construction industry with foreign capital.
Dossier: Ciudades latinoamericanas en tiempos de crisis
Industria de la construcción; crisis; Estado mexicano; urbanización y capitalismo dependiente.
Copyright (c) 2025 Arista Crítica https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The Universities as Configuring Dispositives of Social Aspiration: Elements of Conformation of Subjectivity in Students
Conceptions around social aspiration are generated through sociocultural discourses and practices that have the effect of forming subjectivities. The University is a dispositive through which multiple discourses, practices and symbols converge to form conceptions that have the effect of generating social aspirations present in the processes of student formation. This qualitative research aims to analyze the socio-cultural elements that are articulated in the dispositives of subjectivity formation present in the University tending to the production of social aspirations in the students. The method used is semiotic analysis. Data production techniques are non-participant observation of the physical and virtual spaces of two universities in the city of Chihuahua, Mexico. The main findings are the recognition of four dispositives: success, family, socio-economic and gender, which are articulated as mechanisms for the formation of subjectivities that tend to social aspiration
Dispositives; Subjectivity; University; Students; Social Aspiration.
Environmental Crisis and Dependency Extractivism
The area of Quintero and Puchuncaví in Chile has been exposed for more than 60 years to pollution episodes due to the existence of the Ventanas Industrial Park located in its surroundings. This has categorized it as a Sacrifice Zone. It is therefore essential to reflect on the extractivist production model that has caused an environmental crisis in the area and how the Dependency Theory can explain the relationship between neoliberalism - science and technology and super-exploitation of labor and nature. The category of sacrifice is problematized in the light of the so-called imperial way of life and the opportunities of resistance that the idea of crisis opens for cities and human beings.
Environmental crisis - Dependency Theory - Sacrifice Zone - Extractivism - Industrial Park Ventanas
Copyright (c) 2025 Arista Crítica https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Photography, memories and landscapes: commensality and play in times of pandemic
This article examines a series of images that encapsulate a moment in the social and material relations during the COVID-19 pandemic in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. From a qualitative approach, the concept of landscape allowed us to develop a methodological articulation akin to collective memory. The corpus was formed, on one hand, through the selection of images from media galleries that consistently depicted the emptying and regulation of public space due to the actions of security forces. These forces ensured the confinement of recreational and food-related activities to domestic spaces. In this way, in this way, the narratives proposed by the media, aligned with the biomedical and punitive discourse, were analyzed, which tended to separate individual experience from collective experience. On the other hand, a selection of photographs from neighborhood photographic walks carried out by women leaders from socio-segregated neighborhoods is examined. This technique enables the recognition of alternative modes of visual organization and perspectives from the territories and practices within the local urban landscape. These daily practices offer another record of what is visible—of the everyday resistances and communal activities that never ceased; on the contrary, they intensified, particularly around the act of providing food. In Berger’s terms (2000), these images appeared as “alternative photographs” to the hegemonic scopic regime, shedding light on what was obstructed regarding the meanings of the pandemic: the power of collective strength.
Copyright (c) 2025 Juliana Huergo, Ileana Desirée Ibáñez https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
This article analyzes two crises that have significantly transformed the city of Buenos Aires: the economic crisis of 2001 and the COVID-19 pandemic. It adopts a perspective that, instead of emphasizing the negative aspects of crises, considers them as opportunities for the development of creative responses and the construction of new urban territorialities. Through a longitudinal ethnographic study that combines participant observation with in-depth interviews—conducted during both periods—the article examines the impact these crises have had on urban life and social dynamics. Understanding them contributes to the study of urban life (in crisis) and adds complexity to the research that addresses these phenomena.
Invisible Educational Stakeholders In Language Planning And Policy
This article aims to present a state-of-the-art overview of language planning and policy, with particular emphasis on the implementation of language policies related to English language learning on a global scale, as well as the stakeholders involved in managing these policies. This research is grounded in personal experiences as an English teacher in public schools and various universities in Bogotá, where I have observed the implementation processes firsthand. Through these experiences, I have recognized numerous changes, contradictions, successes, and shortcomings in language policy. A review of over 60 research articles on language policies worldwide reveals two significant trends. The first trend concerns the trajectories of language policies implemented across different countries over time. The second trend highlights the predominant portrayal of teachers as the primary educational stakeholders. However, this focus often leads to the marginalization of other key actors. As a result, there is a noticeable lack of information about the involvement of other agents in the implementation process and the dynamics among them, which are essential for achieving the goals set by language policies.
language planning and policy, language policies, National Bilingualism Program (NBP), educational stakeholders.
Creation of an online booklet for learning french as a foreign language to adults
This documentary research focuses on the teaching of French as a Foreign Language for adults by means of educational technology during the past 20 years. The problem comes from informal interviews and observations of an adult population with the need to learn foreign languages using technology. The theoretical constructs that support the research are related to French language learning, educational technology and andragogy. In addition, an analysis of 30 documents is made; they were classified according to the type of text (research articles, theses, videos and book chapters). As a product of this documentary research, an online workbook was created containing activities that present French culture. Finally, the results show that French Teaching is constantly changing and evolving according to social requirements.
Reflexión sobre el uso de las TIC en el salón de clases
BPLACE-BASED LEARNING AND ITS SCOPE IN THE CURRENT EDUCATION
This article presents a systematic literature review on Place-Based Learning (PBL). The documentary search was conducted using the PRISMA research method, examining articles published between 2000 and 2024 in the databases: Scopus, Scielo, Science Direct, Redalyc, and Dialnet. The search equations and Boolean operator used were: "aprendizaje basado en el lugar," "place based learning," "aprendizaje basado" AND "en el lugar." The review aimed to identify the state of research on PBL in Ibero-America during the 21st century. It analyzed its background, definition, fields of study, and analytical approaches. The results indicate that PBL is a recent field of study that connects learning with local environments. It is suggested to continue systematizing the category to enrich teaching practice and understand its impact in various contexts
place-based learning, education, literature review, students.
Copyright (c) 2024 Arista Crítica https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
This article seeks to reflect on the importance of reinventing teachers in higher education environments and the way in which they can adapt to change and transform their pedagogical and didactic practices in order to make their work one that contributes to the different aspects of social, cultural and educational issues, understanding the challenges of today. For this, it is convenient to rescue the contributions of authors such as Ken Bain, Martha Nussbaum, Paulo Freire, Anna Forés and Esther Subias, who have promoted various approaches focused on the student, reflection, inclusion, equity, critical pedagogy and adaptation to the changing demands of higher education. All without forgetting that teaching and learning processes have undergone a transformation in the last decade, which has changed the way in which individuals access information, in which students learn and professors teach. The above perspectives could provide a basis for those teachers in training, active teachers and even university students who are interested in understanding the world of today's university teacher, the pedagogical strategies that should begin to be applied in higher education and the humanistic transformation in this context.
The aim of the study is to analyze the role of ICT in processes of dialogue and interaction among peers in virtual environments in Middle School Education. The scope is analytical, with epistemological perspectives characteristic of the humanistic paradigm and qualitative research. Among the results, the following are highlighted: the effects of limited peer interaction on learning, the use of technologies as an educational resource, the teacher's role in planning and managing technologies and cooperative learning activities, the impact of virtual environments and digital tools on access to information and the development of processes of collective construction. Thus, it is concluded that ICT surpass the notion of a classroom resource by being a dialogical medium of learning that enhances interaction among peers, whose properties the teacher must manage to build valuable educational spaces and experiences.
Training needs and school management and leadership challenges:
This research aims to analyze the training needs faced by secondary school principals in Mexico City, with a focus on the areas of school management and leadership as the main research topics. This study is based on the diagnosis of the opinions and experiences of principals and teachers interviewed in educational centers. To conduct this analysis, an ethnographic methodology was used, employing a qualitative, descriptive, narrative, and participant observation approach. This methodology made it possible to document experiences of principals, teachers, and key informants, who collaborated in the study and contributed to understanding the reality and needs of each school context. The main findings reveal the need for professionalization and updating remains a concern for the teaching staff. Furthermore, it was found that management and leadership are oriented towards school improvement. However, a prevailing transactional leadership is observed in bureaucratic processes and the organizational culture of schools in the 21st century. It is concluded that despite the efforts of secondary school principals in Mexico City to enhance organization and educational performance, a substantial improvement in student performance is not observed. Additionally, although principals possess higher academic credentials and have improved the distribution of leadership, challenges persist in enhancing student performance due to a transactional approach that negatively impacts student motivation and identification with the school. It is recommended to revalue and professionalize the teaching profession.
The research carried out has allowed us to understand in depth the level of digital competence that teachers from various educational institutions have, facilitating the establishment of a north in terms of educational technological support. The methodology has been categorized as a quantitative approach and systematic review of bibliographic sources through the critical analysis of selected articles. A survey was conducted on a representative sample of teachers from different educational levels to assess their level of digital competence before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with a subgroup of teachers to better understand the challenges and needs in terms of digital competence. The world of technology and digitalization has become essential in the academic space as a means to continue developing pedagogical tasks and innovation in the educational sector in this radical change caused by COVID19. It is advisable to carry out training to strengthen the technological capabilities of both university and regular basic education teachers because in the study carried out some deficiencies have been noted by the teaching staff in terms of a good consolidation of the digital world. Research reveals that many teachers have experienced difficulties adapting to new technologies and educational platforms during the pandemic.
Digital skills, teachers, information and communication technologies, learning, innovation.
Emotions for a New World. Interview with author Juan Carlos Pacheco Giraldo on the occasion of the book launch at the Bogotá International Book Fair (April 20, 2023).
<span style="caret-color: #374151; color: #374151; font-family: Söhne, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Noto Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; display: inline !important; float: none;">Interview conducted by students Valeria Juliana Garzón and Laura Liliana Pachón, from the Early Childhood Education program (Universidad Libre, Bogotá), at the International Book Fair (April 20, 2023) about "Emotions for a New World," a book written by Professor Juan Carlos Pacheco Giraldo, who is also affiliated with the same university.
4.0 Revolution, Work, and Education: Effects of the Pandemic
The 4.0 Revolution driven by new information and communication technologies is generating technological changes in production systems, demanding entrepreneurs to invest in new technologies in the realm of automation and application of Artificial Intelligence. It requires new skills for workers to operate in technological spaces, and necessitates regulatory frameworks from states to ensure conditions for free entrepreneurial development and respect for workers' rights to dignified work. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the process of technological updating in society at large, particularly within companies. It also highlighted social inequalities and the difficulties faced by wide segments of the informal economy in accessing ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). Higher education faces the challenge of contributing to the development of skills that both companies and independent workers need to live dignified lives. The pandemic expedited the automation of productive processes within a context where social inequalities were underscored. The Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios, UNIMINUTO, aware of the ongoing era change and the current educational focus where the student assumes a leading role, tackles this challenge through the adoption of a new Institutional Development Plan 2020-2025, titled "Learning for Transformation," and updates its educational model reflected in the Institutional Educational Project "Transformative experiences and innovation in service of learning" (2021), promoting hybrid learning. With these institutional options, it aims to contribute to the development of necessary skills for improved performance of 21st-century professionals and workers.
Philosophical requirements from Abya -Yala
This article is the result of the doctoral thesis in Social Studies entitled "Emergencies, Events, and Resistances in CRIC, ZAPATISTAS, and CAM, 1994-2014, 20 years of struggle of the Latin American indigenous movement." This thesis addresses various elements but interacts in the analytical process of three indigenous communities of Our America: the Zapatistas, the Nasa, and the Mapuche in Mexico, Colombia, and Chile respectively, as well as their political organizations. In accordance with the above and within the limits of this article, readers will find a methodological innovation that, for research purposes, we refer to as Situated Epistemology (SE), which is briefly presented here. Subsequently, the analysis of three texts that reveal the indigenous peoples' own thinking is addressed as part of the results or findings. This thinking serves as the framework through which they interpret and understand their concrete reality. Therefore, our study focused on the indigenous peoples of the Mexican southeast in the State of Chiapas, the indigenous peoples of the Cauca Department in southwestern Colombia, and the indigenous peoples of central Chile, specifically the Araucanía and Bio-Bio Regions.
This paper is part of a study on perceptions and caregiving practices in organizational contexts related to the care of individuals. This article addresses the perceptions of care held by agents of a state center for the promotion of neighborhood coexistence, located in the central region of Argentina. In this way, we aim to begin addressing one of the questions guiding the research, with the aspiration of gaining a deeper understanding of the issue: What are the perceptions of care maintained by individuals working as agents in the organizational context? Regarding this research topic, a qualitative investigation was conducted with a case study design and an action research strategy, from a complex perspective. The results regarding conceptions allow us to identify multiple dimensions of the ethics of care, which encompass a continuum of actions, awareness of what not to do, and non-intervention practices. In summary, it is about receptivity that is integral to caregiving, redefining its exclusive definition as a mere activity
Identity in Latin America in the work Estancia, op. 8 (1941) by Alberto Ginastera
This work analyzes the musical composition Estancia, op. 8 (1941) by Alberto Ginastera, taking into account its musical, literary, and social origins and influences. Its themes and artistic content highlight issues that, even though they emerged in the 19th century, continue to be relevant in Latin America today. It begins with the concepts of mestizaje and Latin American identity as a framework. Then, it provides a literary perspective on the context of the musical work's plot. Subsequently, a structural and stylistic analysis of Estancia is conducted, emphasizing what can be considered as musical mestizaje through the various voices found in its compositional language and how Ginastera brings them together. It concludes with a general interpretation of the music and its context, examining what can be considered common among the convergence of so many heterogeneous aspects in the work of the Argentine composer, what the concept of Latin American identity might be derived from the composition, and how some of the issues raised in the work are still relevant today.
Nowadays, wayuu people from Low Guajira onomastic practices are linked to a bilateral relationship. Our goal in this article is to contribute to “desmitify” matrilineality as an essentialist feature that has been extended to all the people that has been recognized part of the wayuu ethnic group. Church archive data analysis showed in this text confirms the shifting of naming practices due to a colonization process coming from a “mestizaje” and double ethnic adscription.
Copyright (c) 2022 Dary Marcela Ángel Rodríguez
The Intercultural Competences of the Academic Community at the Technological Institute of Antioquia - University Institution.
The research exercise presented here is the result of the analysis carried out regarding the intercultural competences of the academic community - both teachers and students - in a Higher Education Institution in the city of Medellin: the Technological Institute of Antioquia - University Institution (TdeA). Thus, based on the framework of UNESCO's intercultural competences (2006), as well as the institution's PEI (2020) and Milton Bennett's ethno-relative cultural approach (1983), we designed a measurement instrument for intercultural sensitivity that reveals the degrees of interaction with diversity and cultural difference. In this instrument, we used widely spread memes on social media, highlighting mocking attitudes towards members of different social groups based on ethnic, racial, and gender differences, as well as neurocognitive and religious diversity. The results demonstrate that the majority of the academic community is in stages of adaptation and acceptance of cultural differences, meaning high levels of intercultural sensitivity, which allows for considering appropriate intercultural competences for interacting with cultural diversity.
Impact of the classroom management strategy on academic quality in the area of communication
The objective of the study is to achieve academic quality in sixth-grade students of Primary School No. 14786 "Fray Martin De Porres" through classroom management strategies. Specific objectives: diagnose academic quality in student communication, develop classroom management strategies and their validation. Hypothesis test: if classroom management strategies based on constructivism, dramatization, and leadership are developed and validated, the academic quality of student communication will improve. We worked with 39 students, used a sample of 35 students, and diagnosed them using mixed methods to confirm the problem. To test the effect in the experimental group, two questionnaires were administered using a Likert scale. It is concluded that classroom management strategies provide pedagogy with the necessary tools to achieve professional quality.
From the Creation of Multiple Languages to Language for Multiplicity
The article is the result of the investigative process "Discrimination in teacher-student verbal communication based on the person's living conditions", which aims to describe and understand the forms of discrimination in this type of communication in cases of disability and Afro-descendency in two educational institutions in Bogotá. Methodologically, the text is part of qualitative research with an interpretive approach, using semi-structured narrative interviews to capture testimonies and reflections, establishing synchronicity between the voices of the interviewees - teachers and students who relate discriminatory experiences - and the researching teachers.
Social Work during the COVID-19 Pandemic:
This article presents professional experiences of Social Work in Colombia during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially regarding the use of meaningful tools. Thus, the research was developed from a qualitative approach, through interviews with different professionals from the national territory, from where it was possible to conclude that the pandemic did have influence in the fields of action: it presented an opportunity for professional positioning, digital strategies were implemented that not everyone has access to, and it brought a series of new challenges for the profession.
Mobile Learning as an Educational Resource to Foster Motivation
Motivation plays a pivotal role when learning a foreign language. It is a relevant factor in determining the willingness of students to learn. This documentary research is aimed at analyzing previous studies regarding the motivation of university students at an intermediate level to learn English as a foreign language (EFL thereafter) using Mobile Learning (also known as M-Learning). This study focused on how mobile learning is used and approached in English classes as well as its influence on students' motivation. This body of information effectively showed that Mobile Learning and its implementation in English lessons contribute to increasing students’ motivation. This type of learning will not replace teachers, but it can become an innovative resource through the current and emerging mobile educational applications.
So, what to teach indigenous languages for?
The article analyzes the training experience lived by six teachers at the basic level of indigenous education in the State of Mexico. Discourses and statements about identity were analyzed, as well as the original language, the value of culture and the meaning they give to different teaching approaches as the intercultural one. The interviews were analyzed by applying a critical discourse analysis method. The purpose was to listen to the subjectivations that teachers build out of their experiences, since, as agents, they have accrued resources from their history, that of their parents and grandparents, their economic situation, and many other different relationships, setting the capitals that locate them in a certain space and time (Bourdieu, 2005). Thus, a reflection on the subjectivations, within the context of the reforms to the Mexican education that attempts to be guided by the proposal of a critical interculturality approach, takes place. It is also appointed that critical interculturality, as a means to reduce structural racism, discrimination, and educational backwardness from the claim of indigenous culture, requires a dialogic process, with subjectivations of indigenous identity as its core, to foster new educational practices in diverse contexts.
This text is part of a research-action process to create an educational program to promote reading and writing from applied art to a focus group of girls and boys. It is an interdisciplinary work in which researchers from different areas of knowledge come together to carry out a pedagogical proposal for children between 10 and 11 years old belonging to the Gordiano Guzmán school in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco, Mexico. In search of the benefit to the community, this qualitative proposal investigates the specific needs of the focus group to carry out an intervention and to promote literacy. Cognitive development and context are taken into account for the representation of their ideal worlds through art and literature. In a first phase of the investigation, a diagnostic instrument was carried out that has given some results to continue with a proposal for artistic intervention. In this work, an analysis of these results is carried out considering a theoretical framework based on the semiotics of art and applied linguistics. The objective is to find significant elements that allow the development of a reading program and an artistic intervention based on the construction and representation of the ideal worlds expressed by the participants, as well as attending to and strengthening linguistic learning.
In this review, we seek to identify how the identity of bilingual Science teachers has been conceptualized, theoretically and methodologically. For the analysis we looked for articles in the Francis & Taylor and Scopus databases, selecting 50 articles from different parts of the world which were based on the construction of a search phrase that houses the categories of interest. The found trends were: 1) The invisibility of the science teacher as an individual in bilingualism processes, 2) bilingualism policies and practices that shape the identities of science teachers, and 3) getting, usually, the language teachers in charge of teaching science in bilingual processes. We conclude by noticing that research exploring the identity of the bilingual science teacher is scarce making it necessary to problematize this issue, as well as investigate it in depth, keeping in mind that bilingualism has been normalized around the world and has been understood using English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) and a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).
Exploring English Language Teachers’ Critical Identities:
This paper presents a literature review on critical Identities (CI), that implemented as methodology a profiling exercise, which according to Castañeda-Londoño (2019), is an exercise that allows the tracking of tendencies in research studies. An exploration was carried out in relation to what has been studied regarding the English language teachers’ critical identities (CI henceforth). Based on this, a conceptualization of CI will be briefly introduced, in order to frame this review within a critical perspective in education. Then, I will discuss how the review unveiled three trends: the first one is that some studies that relate to CI revolve around critical reflections and explore narratives as part of their methodology; the second one has to do with the fact that some studies explore the relations between criticality and English language teaching, as contents in courses or programs for in-service and pre-service teachers; the third one regards some studies that reveal how English language teachers (ELT) express our CI to confront power relations in our teaching practice. After that, I will comment the gaps that were identified in studies related to English language teachers’ identities, which consists on the opportunity to understand our CI as something that is built through our histories and stories, and that has an influence over our actions as well as teaching practices inside and outside the classroom. Finally, the conclusions of this profiling exercise will be exposed.