Indigenous food sovereignty and tourism: the Chakra Route in the Amazon region of Ecuador

Abstract

This research applies the concept of food sovereignty as a framework to explore the impacts of tourism on Indigenous food systems in the Chakra Chocolate and Tourism Route (referred to as the “Chakra Route” in the paper), a tourist destination in the Amazon region of Ecuador that aims to improve the livelihoods of Kichwa people. Using a qualitative and collaborative research approach, we examine how Kichwa and non-Kichwa people in this destination area understand food sovereignty, particularly concerning tourism development. Findings show that chakra gardens, a traditional agroforestry method, offer a symbolic and practical embodiment of food sovereignty for local people. Participants expressed a variety of values and concerns regarding tourism and chakra, including on destination branding; the role Indigenous women and their traditional knowledge play in tourism; the food choices promoted to tourists; self-determination and the level of participation of Indigenous people in governance of the route. Overall, our research contributes to a pluralistic notion of justice in Indigenous tourism and illustrates how the study of food sovereignty in this Amazonia destination can serve as a holistic and collaborative frame for exploring the multidimensional impacts of tourism on communal well-being, food security, and biodiversity and cultural conservation.

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Keywords:

• Ecuador
• Amazon
• self-determination
• Indigenous tourism
• Indigenous women
• food sovereignty

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank M.Sc. Ayme Tanguila and her family for their support while doing the fieldwork of this project. We also acknowledge the support, time, and trust provided by all the organizations and community members of the Chakra Route, RICANCIE, and FEPTCE. Thank you as well to Dr. Tazim Jamal and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Graduate Research Fellowship from the School of Environment and Sustainability of the University of Saskatchewan

Notes on contributors

Verónica Santafe-Troncoso

Veronica Santafe-Troncoso is a PhD candidate at the School of Environment and Sustainability – University of Saskatchewan. Her research interests include food sovereignty, sustainable tourism, and decolonization in Indigenous tourism. She has been working as a researcher and practitioner on sustainable tourism and community-based tourism in Ecuador and Canada for more than ten years.

Philip A. Loring

Dr. Philip Loring is the Arrell Chair in Food, Policy, and Society at the University of Guelph. As anthropologist, his research focuses on the human ecology of sustainable food systems, emphasizing such issues as conflict, human rights, and climate change. He has ongoing research in the Arctic, the Canadian Prairies, and Ireland. He is also the author of Finding Our Niche: Toward a Restorative Human Ecology, available from Fernwood Publishing in Fall, 2020.