Promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability through indigenous language teaching in a Mexican university

Abstract This paper analyzes the narratives of five Ayuuk (Mixe) language students enrolled in a BA program in language teaching in Oaxaca, Mexico, to understand their experiences and the reasons behind their decision to study this indigenous language. We use theoretical lenses on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and sustainability ( Campbell, 2019 ; Boiles & Fúnez-Flores, 2024 ; Perry, 2024 ; Reisch & Jani, 2025 ) to present narratives from a critical action research project on Ayuuk teaching. The analysis of data focused on two main themes: (1) students’ previous experiences with indigenous languages and (2) the reasons why university students chose to study an indigenous language instead of a modern language (e.g., French, Italian, Portuguese) as an additional language in the BA program. The study concludes that, in postcolonial contexts, DEI and sustainability approaches develop decolonized ELT initiatives and maintain indigenous language diversity. Also, indigenous language teaching helps students to revitalize their heritage languages and promote social justice by recognizing the value of indigenous languages in communication and education.