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ECUADORIAN STUDIES <><><>ECUABULLETIN<><><>
Editors: The Ecuabulletin is the official E-newsletter of the Ecuadorian Studies section of the
Latin American Studies Association (LASA). The newsletter is published once a month at the beginning of each calendar month. The editors encourage the bulletin's readers to send along newsworthy items as they
relate to Ecuador and request that all submissions follow the subsequent guidelines. Material submitted for consideration should be well-written and concise (in English or Spanish). Articles should be
titled. Information regarding events and/or deadlines should be relayed to the bulletin's e-mail address at least one month prior to the date announced. Documents sent electronically to the editorship
should be formatted in either Microsoft Word or Wordperfect and should be sent to the bulletin's clearinghouse ( El Ecuaboletín es el boletín oficial electrónico de la sección de los Ecuatorianistas de la Latin
American Studies Association (LASA). El boletín será publicado mensualmente al principio de cada mes. El comité de redacción recomienda que los lectores del boletín envíen información apropiada y pide que
los informes sigan las siguientes reglas. Toda materia debe estar bien escrita y concisa (en Íngles o Español). Los artículos deben tener título. Información que se trata de un evento o de un plazo de
entrega debe ser mandada con un mes de anticipación al comité de redacción antes de la fecha indicada. Los documentos que serán mandados electronicamente a la redacción deben ser formateados en Microsoft Word o
Wordperfect y deben ser mandados a la direción electrónica del boletín ( CONTENTS RESEARCH ASSISTANCE
POSITION OPENINGS COMMENTARIES
SECTION ANNOUNCEMENTS I am enormously pleased to announce the official debut of the Ecuador Boletín, the Ecuadorian Studies Section's official monthly electronic newsletter. For those of you new
to the Section a bit of background seems in order: The Section's creation was the result of frustration by a number of Ecuadorianists who organized an extra-official roundtable at LASA 2000 to discuss the recent golpe
(January 21st), the economic crisis and other pressing issues. The event was so well attended and productive that several of us simultaneously, and unbeknownst to each other, began petitioning LASA to form an official Ecuador Section. Once we united our efforts things began to move quickly and the "Ecuadorian Studies Section" was officially approved by the LASA Executive Council on June 29th of this year. We have accomplished a great deal in the intervening months: a top-notch web page has been created by Marc Becker; an invited panel was selected for LASA 2001; a letter protesting the possible use of fungal herbicides in the Oriente was drafted by Emma Cervone, signed by many Section members and sent to President Noboa; guidelines for a Section journal edited by Michael Hamerly have been submitted to LASA for approval; our listserv is overflowing with interesting exchanges; and now this e-bulletin is up and running thanks to Kenny Kincaid, Jason Pribilsky and Richard Quintero Andrade. Nevertheless, much work remains to be done and I encourage anyone with the time and interest to get involved. My electronic mailbox is always open for suggestions on how we can improve the Section and I look forward to hearing from and meeting more of you in the near future.
Muchos saludos, Brian R. Selmeski Message from the Secretary-Treasurer I want to make one more plug for updating your LASA
membership as soon as possible. The 2001 membership forms are now available on the LASA website: Jennifer Collins is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of California-San Diego. Her research focuses on social movement participation in formal electoral politics in Ecuador where she has
focused on the Pachakutik movement. She is currently carrying out comparative research in Bolivia. She has lived and conducted research in Ecuador for over 5 years. If you should have any questions about membership,
Jennifer can be contacted at: Ecuadorian Studies Section Launches Web Page! The Ecuadorian Studies Section of LASA has its own web page located at Member database. We are assembling a database of members that includes contact information and areas of interest. If you have not already done
so, please fill out the form on the web page to be included in the database. We hope in the future to develop this into a searchable database that can be used to locate other scholars who share similar
interests. If anyone has database programming skills and would like to volunteer time for this project, please contact us. Essays. Currently there are three essays on the web page. Please let
us know if you have an essay you would like to add to the web page for others to enjoy. We also plan to publish the Ecuadorian Studies journal, as well as this newsletter, on the web page. Hopefully the web
page can be a useful tool for the creative exchange of ideas. Bibliographies. Currently we have two bibliographies of works on Ecuador on the web page. Please let us know if you have a bibliography
you would like to add to this section of the web page. In the future we may look at developing a search engine which would facilitate retrieval of bibliographic data. This will make this web page a critical
resource for Ecuadorian studies. Events. There is a small events calendar on the web page. Please send us announcement of forthcoming events related to the mission of our section and we would be
happy to add them. This can also be a way for people to keep abreast of events related to Ecuador. Links. We are developing a page of annotated links to other websites on Ecuador. Please let
us know if you know of sites which you think should be added to this list or have annotations of websites you would like to add to this page. We could also use help in organizing this page into a more user
friendly format. The web page continues to be under development. In addition to the electronic publishing of our journal and newsletter, we also hope in the future to offer a Spanish (and maybe even Quichua!)
version of the website. If you have comments or suggestions for the web page or would like to volunteer to help work on it, please contact Marc Becker, our webmaster, at CALL FOR CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PROPOSALS
Harley Shaiken, Chair, Center for Latin American Studies,University of California, Berkeley, 2334 Bowditch Street, Berkeley, California 94720-2312 The University of California is an equal opportunity
affirmative action employer.
The Inauguration of la Universidad Intercultural de Nacionalidades y Pueblos Indígenas del Ecuador, Amautai Wasi La Universidad Intercultural de Nacionalidades y Pueblos Indígenas was inaugurated
on October 12, 2000, in the auditorium of CIESPAL in Quito, Ecuador. The culmination of several years of work and planning on the part of Luis Macas, and many collaborators, the two day event included a day long
symposium on the meaning of the 1990 Levantamiento Indígena of Inti Raymi - on its 10th anniversary, sponsored by the Instituto Cientifico de Culturas Indígenas, ICCI, the Instituto Latinoamericano de
Investigaciones Sociales, ILDIS-FES and the Confederación de Nacionalidades y Pueblos Indígenas del Ecuador, CONAIE. Participants and persons who attended represented a vast spectrum of organizations, parties,
positions and regions. Four persons from the U.S. who attended were formally acknowledged: Rosalie Little Thunder, a Latkota woman who chairs the Seventh Generation Fund Board which has provided some
funding for ICCI, Ray Williams, Director of Native American Affairs for the Seattle Archdiocese and Seventh Generation Board member, Adriana Ballén, president of the Community Consulting Network based in
Chicago, and I, Linda Belote, professor of anthropology, representing the University of Minnesota Duluth. Adriana and I served as the translators for Rosalie and Ray throughout much of the event, which meant that
I could not take notes, but I did listen very carefully to the presentations! The Examination of the Levantamiento Indígena 10 Years Later was opened by Hans-Ulrich Bunger, Director of ILDIS-FES, with Pedro Ushiña
from ICCI as discussant. The first set of panelists addressed the historical significance of the indigenous uprising of Inti Raymi, 1990-2000. The speakers included Gonzalo Ortiz, a former minister from the
government of Rodrigo Borja, Alberto Luna Tobar, monseñor of Cuenca, retired General José Gallardo, former Minister of Defense, Leonardo Viteri, Director of the Amazon Institute of Science and Technology
"Amazanga" and Luis Macas, Director of ICCI, former president of Conaie, and former congressman. Each speaker traced the origins of the Levantamiento: one back to 1533, another to Rumiñahui, another back to
the Ley de las Comunas (1940s) and still another to the bilingual education program established during the presidency of Roldos. There was strong agreement that the uprising represented a wake up call to the
country to the presence and needs of the country's indigenous peoples. The panel was followed up by a group of Ecuadorian writers who discussed the topic "Civil Society's Perceptions of the Indigenous
Movement." The writers included Alejandro Moreano, university professor and writer for Hoy, Fabian Corral, columnist for El Comercio, Javier Ponce, writer for Hoy, Luz Maria De la Torre,
a teacher from Otavalo and Napoleon Saltos, former congressman from the Pachakutik party. The afternoon session proved to be the most volatile with a session on "The Indigenous Movement and Political
Reform of the State" with Antonio Vargas, president of Conaie, Pedro De la Cruz, president of Federación Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas Indigenas, FENOCIN, Jorge Loor, president of Campesino Social Security,
Vicenta Chuma, ECUARUNARI representative, and Marco Murillo, president of the Federación de Indígenas Evangelicos, FEINE. The session brought together a meeting of unlike minds who have historically been in
conflict with one another over the direction of the Indigenous Movement. The fact that the speakers ultimately spoke in unison of a "agenda común" was noteworthy, and caught the attention of the audience in a way that
the morning's talks had not. A period open for questions from the floor followed each of the morning sessions, though in each case the questions were slow in coming forth, and the few who chose to speak appeared
to be expounding on their own opinions, rather than soliciting further ideas from the panels. Not so of the afternoon session that featured a panel of indigenous leaders. Among them was José María Vacacela who
accused indigenous organizations of having lost contact with their "bases" and asked them to identify their solutions to the serious problems confronting the indigenous peoples of Ecuador, rather than talking in
platitudes. When the panelists began to restate these same platitudes the moderator broke in and asked them to answer the question. But no one really did. Antonio Vargas was clear that the national
problems are societal in nature, and that the indigenous organizations can identify poverty, health, education and social needs, but the entire country of Ecuador must be brought into the solution. The
evening session raised questions about the future of indigenous groups and organizing through a discussion of young indigenous leaders. The session, entitled "Imaginarios de país en el movimiento indígena"
featured thoughts by Auki Tituaña, mayor (alcalde) of Cotacachi, Imbabura; Gilberto Talahua, congressman from the Pachakutik party, Lourdes Tiban, from Cotopaxi, Humberto Cholango and José Atupaña. Together, these
youthful leaders spoke eloquently and passionately about their visions for the society they are working to create. El Comercio reported the following day that the goal of the examination of the 1990 Uprising was to
generate a sustained program of scientific investigation of the Indigenous Movement. Bringing together such a great variety of points of view was certainly an effective beginning for such an analysis. On the
following day, the inauguration of UINPI began with a ritual led by a yachak from Cayambe. The CIESPAL auditorium was packed with peoples from all regions of Ecuador, indigenous and non-indigenous, with a special
welcome extended to the Huaorani present. The formal ceremony opened with the singing of the Ecuadorian National Anthem in Quichua followed by a welcome from Estuardo Remache, president of Ecuarunari.
Antonio Vargas, president of CONAIE formally installed Dr. Luis Macas as Rector of UINPI who then served as the moderator of the rest of the inauguration activities. Dignitaries who spoke or participated
included Ing. Gabriel Galarza, rector of the University of Bolivar in Guaranda and representative of the Consejo Nacional de Educación Superior (CONESUP), the organization which will be involved in recommending
congressional approval for the creation of UINPI; Leonel Cerruto, representative from TINKU, a network linking indigenous organizations and intercultural universities in the Amazonian-Andean regions of Bolivia, Peru and
Ecuador (Leonel also established an office in Quito for closer affiliation with Ecuadorian universities this same weekend), Rosalie Little Thunder of the Seventh Generation Fund, Mikel Berraondo López from the
Universidad de Deusto (Bilbao) Spain, who together with Luis Macas signed an agreement of collaboration between his institution and UINPI; Luis Maldonado, executive secretary of the Consejo de Desarrollo de las
Nacionalidades y Pueblos del Ecuador (CODENPE), and Ricardo Ulcuango, vice-president of Conaie. For my part, I presented a letter of intent for collaboration between the University of Minnesota-Duluth and
UINPI. Luis Macas announced that he had received several of these from persons affiliated with universities in the United States who were unable to attend. The inauguration culminated in the formal
"launching" of UINPI's first publication, a book entitled El Idioma del Pueblo Puqina by P. Federico Aguiló. Since the latest ICCI boletin thoroughly covers the philosophy and objectives
of UINPI and is available to everyone on the web at BOOK REVIEW Kleymeyer, Charles David. Padre Sol, Madre Luna - Inti Taita, Killa Mama - Father Sun, Mother Moon: Cuentos del desarrollo de base
pluricultural. Quito, Ecuador: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 2000. 130 p. Reviewed by Most Ecuatorianistas will be familiar with Chuck (or Carlos) Kleymeyer's work. For twenty years, he has worked in Ecuador as the Field Representative for the
Inter-American Foundation, and before that he worked as a development professional in the Andes. Out of this experience, Kleymeyer has published significant contributions to the social science literature on issues
of grassroots development. This book is a significant departure from the standard social science genre. Drawing on a college degree in creative writing, Kleymeyer shaped events that he experienced and observed
in Ecuador into fascinating short stories which probe the depths of human experiences in ways that difficult to accomplish through standard social science methodologies. The stories describe and analyze issues of
racism, ethnicity, poverty, and liberation struggles while at the same time giving rich ethnographic descriptions of Ecuadorian cultures. The result will be of interest to anyone concerned with development issues
in Ecuador and more broadly in the third world. The book contains four stories, interspersed with a "yapita" of riddles and poems from Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, organized into a tri-lingual (Spanish,
Quichua, English) format. The first (and longest) story, "'You're Anselmo Chumbi? ... Yes.' From words to silence," is a moving fictionalized account of a highland community leader who leads a land
struggle. Similar to Alberto Muehala's short film "Mashikuna," this story describes a motivated and capable activist who makes the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle to improve peoples' lives in his
community. Some readers may find the geographic rearrangements (such as placing Yawarcocha by La Naríz del Diablo, which Kleymeyer acknowledges he intentionally did as part of his literary license) a bit
disconcerting, but this is the very compelling story and I would highly recommend reading it. The second story, "Power of the Grassroots," describes the struggle of former huasipungo workers on the Llinllín
hacienda to claim its natural resources for themselves. Kleymeyer recounts the Indians' non-violent struggle to take over the hacienda, and the role that women played in this process. This is a story of
empowerment in which the community members successfully organized to improve their lives. The third story, "Life or Dignity: Dreams of 'The Bull,'" comes from the Esmeraldas province on the northern
Ecuadorian coast. With increased water pollution from boat motors, overfishing from commercial fishing boats, and the destruction of mangrove swamps to develop commercial shrimp farming, local residents were
forced to go further and further out to sea to bring back their evening meal. This is a story of an Afro-Ecuadorian fisher named "El Toro" who died fishing rather than give up his dignity. His
death was not in vane as it triggered community organizations, including establishment of a mangrove preserve which they called "Sueños de El Toro." The final short story in this collection, "Circular
Rainbow - Pluricultural Society," begins at the First Amazonian Folklore Festival in Rucullacta in 1981. It traces the influence of this event on Indigenous, mestizo, and Afro-Ecuadorian cultural activists,
and how it eventually led to the "Intercultural Encounter: From Identity to Plurinational Development" in Quito in 1996. A theme of this story, and one that runs throughout the entire book, is the
multicultural nature of Ecuadorian society. In this and the other stories, Kleymeyer provides accounts of people working together successfully to build a better society. This book could also be easily adapted
for classroom use in undergraduate courses in literature, development studies, anthropology, and related fields. It is laid out with translations of all three languages (Spanish, Quichua, English) appearing on the
same page which provides additional possibilities for language study. People can attempt to read the stories in a language with which they are less familiar and check their comprehension against one of the other
languages. In Ecuador, this will be a useful text for intercultural education classes and consciousness-raising workshops. This is an entertaining and accessible book which all Ecuatorianistas will want to
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