Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement Research Articles

Book Review: The Americas: Pachakutik and the Rise and Decline of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement

Book Review: The Americas: Pachakutik and the Rise and Decline of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement

Gretchen Helmke and Julio Ríos-Figueroa, eds., Courts in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Illustrations, tables, figures, bibliography, index, 352 pp.; hardcover $99, e-book $79.

Gretchen Helmke and Julio Ríos-Figueroa, eds., Courts in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Illustrations, tables, figures, bibliography, index, 352 pp.; hardcover 79. - Volume 55 Issue 2

Kenneth J. Mijeski and Scott H. Beck, Pachakutik and the Rise and Decline of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2011. Appendix, tables, bibliography, index, 192 pp.; paperback $23.16, pdf $23.99.

Kenneth J. Mijeski and Scott H. Beck, Pachakutik and the Rise and Decline of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2011. Appendix, tables, bibliography, index, 192 pp.; paperback 23.99. - Volume 55 Issue 2

Pachakutik!: Indigenous Movements and Electoral Politics in Ecuador by Marc Becker Pachakutik and the Rise and Decline of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement by Kenneth J. Mijeski and Scott H. Beck

Pachakutik!: Indigenous Movements and Electoral Politics in Ecuador by Marc Becker Pachakutik and the Rise and Decline of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement by Kenneth J. Mijeski and Scott H. Beck

On boxes and arrows: Cognitive maps as a method for actor-centered process tracing

Process tracing as a method in comparative politics usually aims at reconstructing socio-political macro processes. This entails the risk of structuralist or functionalist short-circuiting, i.e. the results-driven ascription of actors’ preferences and strategies. To avoid this, one has to take actors and their particular logics of thought and action seriously. The article presents the cognitive map as a way to ground macro-political process tracing via actor-centered micro analyses. Two cognitive maps taken from an analysis of the indigenous movement in Ecuador are used to discuss the added value, the possibilities and the limits of this methodological tool.

The Indigenous Movement in Ecuador

The indigenous movement in Ecuador has been among the most successful new social movements in Latin America since the late 1980s. Its success may be attributed to its formulation and persistent advocacy of an alternative to the changing manifestations of the capitalist order—the “plurinational state.” This position has organized and motivated the movement for the past 20 years, in the course of which it has gained access to the center of economic policy for a time and more recently has operated with greater autonomy. The struggle for plurinationalism remains at the core of the indigenous movement’s approach to the current progressive government of President Rafael Correa and provides a distinctly anticapitalist alternative. Though the new constitution embodies elements of the movement’s program, there remain fundamental areas of disagreement on the meaning and realization of the plurinational state.

Indians and Leftists. in the Making of Ecuador's Modern Indigenous Movements. MARC BECKER: Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008

With this book, Marc Becker addresses a number of erroneous assumptions about Indigenous movements in Ecuador. He first takes issue with the belief that Indigenous people put an end to centuries of political passivity with what is often referred to as the first Indigenous levantamiento (uprising) in June 1990, when "indigenous peoples shocked the dominant blanco-mestizo(white) population of Ecuador with a powerful uprising that paralyzed the country for a week" (1). During this uprising they presented to Rodrigo Borja Cevallos, who was then the President from the center-left political party Izquierda Democrática, a list of sixteen demands for cultural, economic, and political rights, insisting that the government address long-standing and unresolved issues of land ownership, education, economic development, and the Indigenous relationship with state structures (1).

Between Interculturalism and Ethnocentrism: Local Government and the Indigenous Movement in Otavalo-Ecuador

To what extent might an indigenous mayor govern beyond ethnically defined grievances, without being labelled traitor by the indigenous organisation? This article deals with the challenges faced by the Ecuadorian indigenous movement when it attains power in local government. The issue will be explored through the case of Mario Conejo, who in 2000 became the first indigenous mayor of Otavalo representing the indigenous political movement Pachakutik. Although ethnically based tensions in the local indigenous movement were evident throughout the period, 2006 saw Conejo leave Pachakutik and create a new political movement. This rupture can be traced, I argue, to an intercultural dilemma and the difficulties of ethnically defined political movements.

Re‐articulating Identity: The Shifting Landscape of Indigenous Politics and Power on the Ecuadorian Coast

The Levantamiento Indígena of 1990 was a defining moment in the advancement of indigenous politics in Ecuador. Following the uprising of 1990, scholars have paid close attention to the politics of identity and indigenous representation in Ecuador with the main focus being placed on the highland and Amazonian regions of the country. Based on fieldwork conducted in Ecuador's Manabí province, this article provides preliminary insight into the growth of an indigenous discourse on the Ecuadorian coast. I focus on the process of re‐indigenisation in the coastal community of Macaboa. This research is significant because while a great deal of scholarly attention has been paid to indigenous movements in Ecuador's highland and Amazonian regions, indigenous politics on the coast have gone largely unnoticed. The case outlined in this article is emblematic of the shifting nature of identity and the way in which ethnic discourses are increasingly being adopted by marginalised groups in their attempts to negotiate with the state.

Neo-Corporatism and Territorial Economic Development: The Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement in Local Government

This article argues that the democratization of local governments that has been led by indigenous movements in Ecuador can best be described as “neocorporatist”. The article, based on the evidence from two cases of indigenous local governments in the Andes, argues that the forms of “neo-corporatism” created by the Ecuadorian indigenous movement on its entry into government are designed as participatory institutional frameworks that also serve as channels for the expression of social movements’ demands. The neocorporatist practices deployed by indigenous movements in these areas have had mixed results, both in terms of their implementation and of their capacity to foster viable income-generating activities for poor rural areas. On balance, while the forms of neocorporatist government fostered by the indigenous movement can have positive impacts on economic development, there are still two broad limitations. First, it continues to be difficult to foster a process of territorial economic development that effectively addresses the distinct interests that exist among different community organizations. Second, the negative effects of the wider economic context in which local territories find themselves remain beyond the control of the local government.

Antropología indigenista en el Ecuador desde la década de 1970: compromisos políticos, religiosos y tecnocráticos

Este artículo responde interrogantes sobre las oportunidades y problemas que se presentan al hacer ciencia social en lugares política y económicamente inestables, sobre la inserción del investigador en los procesos sociales y políticos que analiza, y sobre las dificultades de la producción y la participación académica de los antropólogos indígenas en la antropología ecuatoriana. Uno de sus hallazgos es que los actores que contribuyeron a la organización del movimiento indígena en el Ecuador, la iglesia progresista y la izquierda, son también los principales productores de pensamiento antropológico; por tanto, cuestiona la creencia generalizada de que la izquierda no comprendió la importancia de la cultura y la etnicidad. Finalmente, analiza la relación ambigua de los académicos con el movimiento indígena y sus posibles efectos políticos.

The Power of Ecuador's Indigenous Communities in an Era of Cultural Pluralism

The Ecuadorian indigenous movement emerged just as the binaries that once defined the Indian/white boundary became acknowledged internal polarities of indigenous society. In this article, I argue that these divergences energized indigenous communities, which built material infrastructure, social networks, and political capital across widening gaps in values and incomes. They managed this task through a kind of vernacular statecraft, making the most of list making, council formation, and boundary drawing. As the movement shifts into electoral politics, the same community politics that launched it now challenges the national organization. As they work to define a coherent national program, the principal organizations of the national movement must reproduce the local contacts and relations among communities that made Ecuador's indigenous pluriculturalism such a potent presence in the 1990s.

Indigenous Movements in the Central Andes

The article examines the emergence, or non-emergence, of indigenous movements in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia with the focus on local-level and national political dynamics. It analyzes the evolving nature of the Quechua/Quichua and Ayamara communities, the rise of Andean peasant movements, and their transformation into indigenous ones in the cases of Bolivia and Ecuador. It is argued that indigenous movements in the Central Andes arose in close alliance with national actors prior to the double transition to political democracy and economic neoliberalism. While this transition offered indigenous organizations new opportunities for political participation and international networking, it also revealed the existence of a profound conflict between indigenous and neoliberal agendas.

The Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement and the Gutierrez regime

PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology ReviewVolume 28, Issue 1 p. 93-111 The Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement and the Gutiérrez regime José Almeida Vinueza, José Almeida VinuezaSearch for more papers by this author José Almeida Vinueza, José Almeida VinuezaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 09 January 2008 https://doi.org/10.1525/pol.2005.28.1.93Citations: 18AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume28, Issue1May 2005Pages 93-111 This article also appears in:Reflections from Occupied Worlds RelatedInformation

The Sovereign and its Shadow: Constituent Assembly and Indigenous Movement in Ecuador

A crucial development in current Latin American politics is the growing involvement of indigenous movements in democracies grappling with the challenges of regime consolidation. This article examines how Ecuador's indigenous movement consecrated new rights and national constitutive principles in the 1997–8 constitutional assembly. It argues that the indigenous movement defined the legitimacy and purpose of the assembly through an ideological struggle with other political actors, in turn shaping the context and content of constitutional reforms in Ecuador. The article concludes that softening the boundary between ‘cultural politics’ and ‘institutional politics’ is necessary in order to understand the impact of social movements in Latin America.

El movimiento indígena ecuatoriano

Short description:
 The article describes the Ecuadorian indigenous movement. The movement developed in line with the recent proposal to make Ecuador a multi-cultural, multi ethnic state. The article provides a historical overview of the creation of various indigenous organizations. It ends with an evaluation of the objectives of the movement.
 Short description written by Michał Gilewski

‘Dirty indians’, radical Indígenas, and the political economy of social difference in modern ecuador

This article examines alternative conceptions of social difference in Otavalo, Ecuador. On the one hand, in the northern Andes, the language of ethnicity has become a potent force, connected to an indigenous political movement and the profits of handicraft dealing. On the other, ‘race’ and an ‘hygienic racism’ preoccupied with pernicious stereotypes about ‘dirty Indians’ continue to define the social and political landscape. Contrasting these notions of social difference, I show how the indigenous movement in Ecuador receives less support from native peasants who see the world in polarised ‘racial’ terms.

‘Dirty Indians’, Radical Indígenas, and the Political Economy of Social Difference in Modern Ecuador1

Abstract — This article examines alternative conceptions of social difference in Otavalo, Ecuador. On the one hand, in the northern Andes, the language of ethnicity has become a potent force, connected to an indigenous political movement and the profits of handicraft dealing. On the other, ‘race’ and an ‘hygienic racism’ preoccupied with pernicious stereotypes about ‘dirty Indians’ continue to define the social and political landscape. Contrasting these notions of social difference, I show how the indigenous movement in Ecuador receives less support from native peasants who see the world in polarised ‘racial’ terms.

Return of the Yumbo: the indigenous Caminata from Amazonia to Andean Quito

The indigenous march in Ecuador in 1992 (the Caminata) from upper Amazonia to Andean Quito is one of many similar counterhegemonic events taking place over the past decade in Latin America. It began as a peaceful, pragmatic movement to gain land usufruct and soon became a veritable theater of symbolic action. In this article we portray, explicate, and analyze the symbolic dimensions of this march as they were externalized and dramatized in indigenous discourse during and after the Caminata. We also discuss the national audience reaction to this ritual drama by drawing from disseminated interpretations in the national media and discuss the political aftermath of indigenous movements in Ecuador through June 1996.

Forging New Alliances in Ecuador's Amazon

Forging New Alliances in Ecuador’s Amazon Kristina Egan (bio) Since the discovery of oil in the Ecuadorian Amazon in the mid-1960s, indigenous groups inhabiting the Amazon have been organizing in resistance to oil exploration and its associated adverse impacts. The dominant political and economic institutions marginalized Indians and discredited their ethnic and cultural heritage, so the Ecuadorian government largely was able to ignore their concerns. Operating in an essentially unregulated environment, oil companies dumped raw petrol, its by-products, and processing fluids into the Amazonian river systems and clearcut thousands of hectares of rain forest for roads and wells. In addition to the negative effects on the rain forest itself, such environmental degradation has impacted the health of the forest’s inhabitants and threatened their cultural and physical survival by ruining traditional lands. In response, the peoples of the Amazonian rain forest have organized themselves into indigenous organizations that have developed diverse methods of resisting the penetration of the petroleum industry into their homelands. These indigenous organizations have grabbed the imagination of Ecuadorian citizens and activists abroad with their determined efforts in the political arena. At the vanguard of Ecuador’s indigenous movement, the Amazonian Indians have transformed Ecuadorian politics in the past [End Page 123] five years. By amassing and consolidating indigenous support from the country’s diverse regions, while deftly and dramatically articulating their struggle for land and life to interested parties abroad, Ecuadorian Indians have transformed themselves into a force with which the government must contend. Ecuadorian Indians confront the state “sideways,” avoiding the frontal warfare against the state that is employed by violent guerrilla movements in other countries. Besides traditional types of protest, such as marches, sit-ins, and sabotage, the Indians have recently appealed to Northern non-governmental organizations and lawyers for help. Like the Zapatistas of Chiapas, Mexico, the Ecuadorian peoples are harnessing the power of the US and European press in the hopes of mobilizing pressure within the Northern countries to address Ecuadorian Indian grievances. This kind of pressure, originating in the jungles of Ecuador but utilizing powerful advocates outside Latin America, is a new kind of indigenous tactic for rights recognition. Such novel methods of addressing the centuries-old problems of land scarcity and rapacious resource extraction have empowered Ecuadorian Indians and encouraged the development of a multi-faceted alliance between Northern NGOs and the Ecuadorian indigenous movement. Land Scarcity and Environmental Degradation In Ecuador, most of the indigenous populations—which comprise 40–45 percent of the total population—live in the Sierra or near the coast, but between 100,000 and 250,000 make their home in the Amazonian rain forest, called the Oriente. Of the seven nations in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the Shuar and the Quichua comprise the majority of the indigenous population. As little as 25 years ago, the Huaorani, Cofan, Secoya, Siona, and Ashuar peoples numbered about 20,000 each, but have since dwindled to between 700–1200 each as a result of disease and assaults on their land. 1 Although the Shuar and Quichua have not endured the same blow to their numbers, their villages have suffered similar land incursions. [End Page 124] This lack of land rights is not specific to the Amazon. Both the Oriente and the Sierra Indians have been repeatedly disappointed by the state’s land reform policies during the past four decades. In 1964, the military government viewed small parcels of land as an obstacle to modernization. With the purpose of feeding the burgeoning cities, agrarian legislation encouraged the establishment of large dairy and meat farms. The law ended debt peonage, a practice common in the Sierra, but did not distribute land to those released from peonage. 2 A trend of land concentration continued through the military’s 1973 second land reform law, which stressed efficiency and productivity through the promotion of capital intensive export crops, i.e. agroindustry. After the passage of this law, 1.2% of landholders in the Sierra controlled 66% of the arable land. 3 This scarcity of arable land in the Sierra fomented increased colonization of the Oriente. The Ecuadorian leadership’s enthusiasm for rapid modernization also opened the door to foreign oil companies in...