Nonformal education through radio and the social reproduction/transformation of a rural community in Veracruz, Mexico

In Mexico, as in the rest of Latin America, formal education has gained social and political prestige, but it has not been an effective instrument for social change. Nonformal education (NEE) has emerged as an important alternative in most Third World countries. This study sought to investigate: (a) how NEE programs are socially constructed, and (b) the extent to which NEE programs among illiterate adults in rural areas function to reproduce or transform existing inequalities in wealth and power. Methods and Theory. An ethnographic research was conducted in Teocelo, Veracruz, Mexico, a town where a NEE radio station (RCC) has been in operation since 1980. The data collection focused upon the NEE project as well as other relevant activities and institutions in the community. The language of dilemmas (Berlak and Berlak, 1981, 1983) was used to clarify the relationship of the data to social, economic, political, and educational issues and the possibilities for transformation or reproduction in Teocelo and the nearby communities. The language of dilemmas was supplemented by Aberle’s (1967) conceptualization of change, either partial or total, at the individual or community level. [...]