Emergent Identity, Cultural Heritage, and El Mestizaje: Notes from the Ecuadorian Coast

Abstract

The recent emergence of ethnic identities based on territorial claims and historic continuity is increasingly common in Latin America. In many cases ethnic identity is being highlighted as a means of negotiating with the nation-state as a consequence of a history of marginalization and oppression. In Ecuador, communal politics play a central role in the emergence of ethnic based political movements. These movements often involve the reconstitution of cultural practices through reference to the historical past and prehistory as groups that have historically been recognized as mestizo or montuvio push for indigenous rights and state recognition of indigenous cultural heritage and identity. In this article the emergence of an ethnic discourse on the Ecuadorian coast is analyzed with respect to the post-colonial discourse of mestizaje. The reconstitution of ethnic identity in the Ecuadorian context exemplifies the contradictions inherent within the ideology of mestizaje while simultaneously pointing to the fluidity of ethnic identity as a form of cultural capital that can be used to negotiate with the nation-state.

Acknowledgements

I thank Manuel Apodaca-Valdez for his insights and suggestions on earlier drafts of this article. I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers of the Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies for their suggestions and feedback. I thank the University of Southern Indiana and the Southern Illinois University – Carbondale for institutional support for this research. I also thank Vanessa Lucas-Gutiérrez and Fabian Baque-Gutiérrez for their assistance in the field.

Notes

1 The Ecuadorian comuna is the minimal administrative unit and was first established in 1937 with the passage of the Ley de Organización y Régimen de las Comunas Indígenas y Montubias.

2 The terms cholo and montuvio (alternate spelling montubio) frequently carry negative connotations and are often used by individuals of high social status. In highland Ecuador the term cholo refers to urbanized Indians with low economic status (Cervone, 2010). The term montuvio carries negative connotations including ignorant, backwards, uneducated, and unruly and is often used as a derogatory term.

3 Detailed archaeological investigations have been conducted throughout Santa Elena and Manabí provinces with the most notable work being conducted by Elizabeth Currie, Yann Graber, Richard Lunniss, Jorge Marcos, Valentina Martínez, Colin McEwan, and Presley Norton.

4 Manta-Wankavilka has the alternate spelling Manta-Huancavilca.

5 See Bauer, 2010, Becker, 2008, 2011, Pallares 2002, and Yashar, 2005 for a more detailed discussion of Ecuadorian indigenous movements.