Understanding the Process of Inter-epistemic Knowledge Creation: A Participatory Study in Agroecological Learning in Guatemala's Maya-Achí Territory

Michael Bakal

This study examines learning across diverse knowledge systems, an issue with important implications for both educational theory and for addressing a host of social and ecological dilemmas. I specifically focus on how a cohort of young adult Maya-Achí youth learn to navigate, bridge, and ultimately weave together Indigenous and Western knowledge systems in their practice as agroecology promoters. Set in the Maya-Achí territory of Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala, where millennia-old milpa farming traditions face mounting threats from climate change and agrochemical dependency, the research follows a cohort of 12 young adult agroecology apprentices over two years as they participate in a newly designed community-based training program. Drawing on sociocultural learning theory and participatory design research methods, I ask: (1) How do youth agroecologists learn to weave together Indigenous and Western epistemologies in the practice of agroecology? and (2) What features of learning environments support or constrain learners in creating new, inter-epistemic knowledge? Using co-participant observation and artifact analysis of apprentices' culminating projects, I trace changes the development of participants ethical relationships, contributions within agroecological communities of practice, and meaning-making to understand how they draw on diverse knowledge sources in their practices. This study aims to advance understandings of how inter-epistemic learning unfolds interactionally and in practice, while contributing to a growing knowledge base on how to design programs to honor Indigenous knowledge systems and engage youth in food systems transformation.

About Michael Bakal

Michael Bakal is a visiting scholar at UC Santa Cruz and the co-founder of Voces y Manos por el Buen Vivir, a youth empowerment and environmental justice organization based in the Maya-Achí region of Guatemala. As a practitioner, Michael works with communities to co-design programs that support biocultural restoration and community health. A learning scientist, his research examines how young people develop political, ethical, and relational agency in the context of environmental justice and food sovereignty movements. His research also focuses on developing ethical principles and practices to guide collaborations between Western researchers and Indigenous communities. Michael has 18 years of experience working in Guatemala on programs spanning agroecology, youth participatory action-research, health promotion, and human rights. Since 2024, he has been building research-practice partnerships with the Maya-Achí Agroecology Network (RAMA) to support agroecological scaling and youth engagement in food system transformations. He also leads solidarity delegations to Guatemala focused on the legacies of U.S. intervention in Central America, extractive industries, and Indigenous-led visions of development. His academic work has been published in Health Promotion International, NPJ-Climate Action, and Mind, Culture, and Activity, where he serves on the editorial board. He also writes for the popular press on Guatemalan politics, sustainability, and migration policy, with op-eds appearing in the Sacramento Bee, Truthout, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Michael previously worked as a high school biology teacher in Los Angeles and with the New Hope Foundation in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala.