Constructing an Indigenous Health Scientific Paradigm: An Onto-Epistemic Proposal from the Indigenous Intercultural Autonomous University (UAIIN), Cauca, Colombia

Abstract

This article analyzes the consolidation of an Indigenous research paradigm, recognizing the tensions between academic and territorial categories. Territory, the Law of Origin, spirituality, and collectivity constitute its ontological foundations. The study is grounded in Indigenous epistemology in dialogue with critical and decolonial theory. Through a collaborative ethnographic methodology –including dialogue with territorial leaders, archival review, theoretical analysis, and observation of events via digital platforms– it explores how Indigenous people’s articulate worldview, education, and health research. The limitations include epistemological barriers within a context dominated by the Western paradigm, as well as ongoing debates surrounding the concepts of science, method, and paradigm, which remain contested and under construction from the standpoint of enunciation. This study makes visible an onto-epistemic approach within the framework of cognitive justice. It concludes that this paradigm strengthens territorial autonomy through intercultural dialogue of knowledges focused on community-based Buen Vivir.