Buen Vivir or ‘Sumak Kawsay’ is a notion that in the course of the last decade has gained increasing attention by policy makers, scholars, environmental activists, etc., not only in Latin America but around the world. It has received considerable attention by scholars because of the ‘rupture’ with the current world order that it intends to achieve. Sumak Kawsay is something ‘to be reached' through a transformation in the way we understand ourselves, the world, our relations, our way of feeling and experiencing life;  it calls for thinking ‘otherwise’ about taken for granted concepts of modernity (Gudynas & Acosta, 2011; Tortosa, 2011). For Choquehuanca (2010), this notion calls for a restauration of the experience of our people, restauration of the culture of life, restauration of life in complete harmony and mutual respect with nature.

Rooted in Andean indigenous cosmovision, but not restricted to it, the Sumak Kawsay counts as its relatives a number of formulations that advocate a rupture in the current order. As Acosta (2008) puts it “there are many voices that are becoming aligned with this notion.” Also, a Quechua leader advocates the the expansion of the term by saying that  “it is not an indigenous proposal meant for indigenous people, but for all society.” (Macas, 2011, p. 452; Gudynas, 2011)

Since this notion presupposes a social construction of subjects, alternative ways of relating to the world (Cortez, 2011), and alternative ethics (Gudynas, 2011), we, as educationalists, consider the importance of taking this notion seriously. Our primary concern along this paper is: what does ‘SUMAK KAWSAY,’ as a concept in construction, and as a notion that informs policy agendas, represent for the idea of education. In order to do so, we explore the concept from its etymological roots and analyse it in terms of the different components that constitute SUMAK KAWSAY as being, doing, feeling, and hence ‘educating' otherwise.

To do so, we first need to understand what is SUMAK KAWSAY. For Macas (2011) ‘sumak’ means fulfilment/splendour. Kwasay, means ‘to be being’ in other words, ‘life in its dynamics,’ or an interaction of the total existence in movement. Together, they mean, life in its magnificence as a result of the interaction between individuals with nature from which they are all part.

For this paper, we identify several elements that constitute the notion of SUMAK KAWSAY, we will explore them to understand what are the ethical/educational implications for our conception of education. These are: ethics, relationality, politics, and knowledge. 

After this theoretical elaboration, the next step concerns the operationalisation of this notion, in other words, how the notion finds its place in policy texts. The assumption here, in line with Gudynas (2011) is that at this level there is the risk of returning to the very state that SUMAK KAWSAY intends to overcome: returning to a state where there is no rupture (Gudynas, 2011). At this point we focus on how education is framed, taking into account the theoretical considerations that SUMAK KAWSAY presupposes. 

After this analysis, and taking this assumption as point of departure, in the next step we engage in a comparative analysis. We want to see how education is framed in the Latin American countries that officialy adhere to SUMAK KAWSAY (e.g. Ecuador, Bolivia) in comparison with the European Union way of framing education. At this point, our aim is to ‘put to test’ the ‘disruptional’ nature of Sumak Kawsay when brought into policy agendas, and also to explore whether or not without explictly naming SUMAK KAWSAY, policy recommendations in EU have indications of that understainding of ethics, relations, politics, and knowing.

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