1st Campaign for the eradication of racism in Higher Education in Latin America

Abstract

The persistence of racism in society and in higher education is a structural and historical fact that accompanies teaching, research and extension practices, as well as the functional and daily dynamics of institutions, affecting entry, graduation and permanence of thousands of students. This article aims to socialize the actions developed from the 1st Campaign for the Eradication of Racism in Higher Education in Latin America, coordinated by the UNESCO Chair of "Higher Education and Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples" in Latin America (UNTREF), developed in 2020, as well as reflecting on the process of building collaborative networks and learning communities experienced by the members of the working groups formed. The article presents reflections on the achievements of the different experiences and the pending challenges for each of the institutions involved. It should be noted that the campaign consisted of carrying out actions on the internet, this was thought long before the pandemic, the global context and isolation only reaffirmed the need to work in virtual environments. The campaign is presented as one of the different initiatives carried out in Latin America to make visible, problematize, promote and outline new agendas to continue working for an anti-racist and intercultural higher education, becoming a singular and collective space to nourish and be inspired in empirical analysis of the expressions and situations of racism ‒felt, thought and faced by different subjects who lead their confrontation‒ inside and outside the HEIs.