Responsibility and Reciprocity: Social Organization of Mazahua Learning Practices

Abstract

This article describes Mazahua children's participation in learning interactions that take place when they collaborate with more knowledgeable others in everyday activities in family and community settings. During these interactions they coordinate their actions with those of other participants, switching between the roles of “knowledgeable performer” and “observing helper.” It is argued that experience with this way of interacting implies readiness to take on responsibility for carrying out important family and community activities, and an understanding of and capacity for reciprocity. Observations in a sixth‐grade classroom with a Mazahua teacher and children show that children continued to interact in ways that allowed for collaborative task‐oriented organization of classroom learning activities . [Indigenous education, family and community learning, interactional practices, Mazahua learning]