La Social inclusion in Mexico’s scientific system. Reflections from a postdoctoral fellowship program for indigenous women

Abstract

The article examines and discusses the role that Mexico's scientific system can play as a vector of social inclusion. The main objective is to draw attention to this topic, since it has not been considered so far in the agenda for promoting inclusion and combating discrimination. During this century, attention, programs and studies on democratization and policies of inclusion in higher education have focused on the undergraduate and, to a lesser extent, on the graduate level. This text argues that it is time for scientific institutes to join this discussion and introduce practices and policies that favor the systematic inclusion of researchers belonging to marginalized social groups, particularly indigenous women. The article draws on the operation and results to date of the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Indigenous Women (PEPMI), a pioneering program that began in 2018 and will end in 2022. The experiences of PEPMI and its fellows allow observing the possibilities and obstacles to inclusion initiatives such as the one embodied by this program. On this basis, we reflect on some central aspects that should be considered in order to advance consistently and harmoniously in the recognition of diversity and the promotion of processes of inclusion in the spaces of scientific knowledge production in Mexico.