Indians in the Ecuadorian Highlands
An annotated bibliography from the personal collection of
Marc Becker
Awarded first prize in the 41st Annual (1997)
Snyder Book Collecting Contest, Graduate Student Division, University of Kansas
For a week in June of 1990, Indigenous peoples in the small country of Ecuador in South America
blocked roads and paralyzed the country in an attempt to force the government to address issues
of land access, education, economic development, and Indigenous peoples' relationship with the
state. This powerful uprising or levantamiento was one of the most significant events
in the recent history of popular movements in that country. Indigenous peoples from the coast,
sierra, and Amazon united in defense of common political goals to an extent never before seen in
Ecuador.
Throughout the twentieth century there has been a dramatic shift in Indigenous consciousness
and ethnic identity in Ecuador. A powerful movement for social change has emerged out of a
population that the dominant classes have traditionally viewed as backward and docile.
Indigenous organizations have moved from organizing for salaries and working conditions to
presenting demands for land reform. Finally, Indigenous organizations have championed political
demands of territoriality and calls to reform the Ecuador's national constitution in order to reflect
the plurinational and multicultural reality of Ecuador.
The Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE,
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador) emerged at the forefront of these protests.
Indigenous leaders organized CONAIE in 1986 with the intent to combine all Indigenous groups
from the coast, sierra, and Amazon into one large pan-Indian movement dedicated to defending
Indigenous nations' concerns and agitating for many social, political, and educational reforms. It
intended to be the organizational representative for Ecuador's Indigenous peoples to the
government, and to provide institutional support to local and regional organizations.
A large body of literature has been written about these recent Indigenous movements in
Ecuador. Anthropologists, political scientists, and sociologists both within and outside Ecuador
have analyzed the significance of the 1990 uprising, related actions, and the corresponding
ideological shift within Indigenous politics and Indigenous attitudes toward nationalism and state
power. In a manner rarely seen in Latin America, Indigenous actions literally spawned an
academic "Generation of 1990" with countless books, articles, and doctoral dissertations (many
still in the process of completion) on the subject of Indigenous politics in Ecuador.
Both academics and activists alike have come to see the 1990 uprising, the organizational
process leading up to it, and the political negotiations following it, as representing the birth of a
new type of Indigenous ideology and organizational structure. These political events in Ecuador
heavily influenced my own personal intellectual development and academic interests. In May of
1990, I received my M.A. in Latin American History. I had written my Master's Thesis on
José Carlos Mariátegui, a leading Peruvian intellectual and political theorist from
the 1920s. I planned to continue my studies in the doctoral program in the History Department at
the University of Kansas but before doing so I thought I owed it to myself to personally visit
Peru, a country I had never visited but was the subject of my Master's Thesis. At that point, a
war with the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas was at its peak. I did not wish to travel
alone to that country so I began to look for a study abroad program which could introduce me to
that culture. Because of the danger from the guerrilla warfare, I could not find a single study
abroad program which still operated in that country. Rather resistantly, I agreed to participate in
a program which Oregon State University conducted in the neighboring country of Ecuador.
That event opened up an entire new world for me which led directly into a doctoral dissertation.
I arrived in Ecuador in June of 1990 shortly after the large uprising which had shut down the
country for a week. Indigenous organizations were mobilizing to redress issues of historic
oppression and discrimination which had left them in a position of alienation from the national
culture. The quincentennial celebrations of Christopher Columbus' voyage to this hemisphere
were two years away, but already people were actively organizing to turn this event on its head.
It was an euphoric period in which it appeared that after five hundred years of repression
Indigenous peoples (which comprised a large part of the country's population) would finally gain
dignity and respect.
After this encounter, I discarded plans to pursue a study of Peru but rather began exploring
the roots of Indigenous resistance in Ecuador. This was the first of three trips to that country (the
second in 1993-1994 and the third in 1995-1996), and the beginning of a seven-year investigation
which would culminate in the writing of a dissertation on the history of Indigenous and peasant
organizing efforts from the 1920s to the 1960s in the Canton of Cayambe in the northern
Ecuadorian highlands. The first Indigenous organizations in that country emerged out of this
area, and they foreshadowed events which would take place later in the rest of the country.
On that first trip during the Summer of 1990, I began to haphazardly collect books on the
events I was observing around me. Not fully recognizing the historic significance of those events
and the years I would dedicate to the topic, I did not bother to document when and where I
purchased those volumes. Later I began to construct a bibliographic database in Procite on
Ecuador. Slowly and then more quickly it grew with new citations. In February of 1997, it
passed the thousand citation mark and it continues to grow quickly. Currently, it stands at 1044
items, including 671 books, 228 journal articles, 33 dissertations, and a variety of other
conference papers and miscellaneous documents. I personally own a total of 457 of these items,
including 370 books. Out of this extensive collection, I have selected fifty items to present to the
Snyder Book Collecting Contest.
For this submission, I have decided to focus on the specific theme of Indigenous peoples in
the Ecuadorian Highlands. Furthermore, rather than including works which are widely available
such as academic works which university presses in the United States have published, I decided to
focus the collection on items which are more obscure. As a result, none of these items are in
English and all were published in Ecuador (although neither of those were criteria for inclusion).
In fact, few of these items were even published by established printing presses in Ecuador. Many
of these items were obviously intended for popular consumption, and as a result several of them
appear in bilingual editions of Spanish and the local Indigenous language, Quichua. As a result,
many of these items are short in length and cheaply printed. Sixteen items cost less than one
dollar. With several notable exceptions, the monetary value of this collection is not very high. Its
significance does not lie in its high-dollar value.
Although most of these items were inexpensive, I believe I have assembled an invaluable
collection. Together, these items give a first-hand view directly into social conflicts in Ecuador in
the 1980s and 1990s. Many of these present the views of the participants themselves in these
actions. These authors have created a documentary record which future historians will be able to
utilize to analyze late twentieth-century social movements in Latin America.
During my time as a graduate student at the University of Kansas I have always been struck
and impressed with the generosity of former professors who donate their personal libraries to the
university so that current and future students may benefit from the wealth of information which
they contain. During my dissertation research, I have stumbled across several of these collections
and have been pleasantly surprised and even amazed at the abundance of resources hidden in the
university's holdings available for my use. My hope is that one day in the not too distant future I
find a teaching position at a university. Hopefully after a long and rewarding career, one day I
will too retire and donate my personal collection to the school's library. My dream is that the
following items which I have so diligently collected, many of them at throw-away prices, will one
day be graciously accepted into a university library. Perhaps then a student in the distant future
will stumble across an amazing collection of documents from late twentieth-century Ecuador
which will serve as a basis for a term paper, seminar paper, or even a dissertation.
A note on the provenance notations: These follow the format of the name of the bookstore or
source from which I acquired the item, followed by the city of purchase (always in Ecuador with
two exceptions), the date of purchase, the purchase price in the local currency (sucres), and the
price in United States dollars calculated at the time of purchase. Unfortunately, I do not have
such information recorded for items purchased during the initial trip during the summer of 1990.
There are no used bookstores in Ecuador, and most publications have short runs (from
several hundred to a couple thousand copies). Most books go out of print within a year, which
makes finding older editions of works almost impossible. The only hope is to find a book lost in a
bookstore where no one thinks to look for it. Thus, I spent much time scouring in unlikely
bookstores where I hoped other scholars would not think to look for these items. I had two
favorite such haunts. The first was a small bookstore called Autores Ecuatorianos which, as the
name of the store implies, specialized in Ecuadorian authors. Hidden in stacks and piles in the
corners of the store I would often find ten-year old items which still retained their original price.
Because inflation has devalued the local currency, I was able to acquire many items at a fraction
of their true value. Only once, as I note below in the annotations, did the owner change a price
on me, and her actions were fair in doing so. The other place I loved to frequent was a branch of
Ecuador's principle bookstore Libri Mundi located in a five-star hotel named Oro Verde.
Obviously most people in business are not very interested in social science literature, and I could
sometimes find items which everyone assured me were completely out-of-print lost on the shelves
of that store. Unfortunately, that branch was not commercially viable and closed.
Two other places where I found many of these books were from street vendors (the closest
Ecuador has to used book stores, and it is always surprising what they have) and from Indigenous
organizations. The main Indigenous federation CONAIE has a small bookstore in their office in
Quito where they sell items they have published. Local and provincial organizations sometimes
sell items to raise a bit of money, and sometimes people brought items they had written
themselves to meetings. On occasion, people would give me items, perhaps assuming that they
had little if any value.
A final source was the Abya Yala press which maintains an excellent bookstore in Quito and
focuses its energies on anthropological literature. From my entire collection of 370 books, 32
items are from that book store. Although most of those works are of a higher academic standard
and will have a more lasting impact than those I include below, I have excluded most of those
works because the Abya Yala press has an established system of international distribution for their
books. Thus, most of their books can be easily found in major research libraries in the United
States, including KU's. On the other hand, very few of the books listed below can be found in
KU's libraries, or in any library inside or outside of Ecuador for that matter.
Although in assembling this project I impressed myself with the breadth of my entire
collection, it is by no means comprehensive or complete. I will actively continue to add to this
collection. Although I have a special fondness for unique and one-of-a-kind items, I have no
reason to limit or even emphasize that aspect of the collection as I develop it. Because of the
expense of books in the United States, there are many important works in English which I would
love to add to this collection but I am forced to wait until I find them in a used book store. The
Snyder would allow me to add these works to my collection. These books would include the
following:
Andrien, Kenneth J. The Kingdom of Quito, 1690-1830: The State and Regional
Development. Cambridge Latin American Studies 80. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1995.
Newson, Linda A. Life and Death in Early Colonial Ecuador. The Civilization of
the American Indian Series, Vol. 214. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.
Schodt, David. Ecuador: An Andean Enigma. Westview Profiles: Nations of
Contemporary Latin America. Boulder: Westview Press, 1987.
Spindler, Frank MacDonald. Nineteenth century Ecuador: A historical
introduction. Fairfax, Va.: George Mason University Press, 1987.
Van Aken, Mark J. King of the Night: Juan José Flores and Ecuador,
1824-1864. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
In addition to these works, I have maintained a database of items which I would like to
acquire but are extremely difficult to locate. At this point, thirty-eight items remain in this list
which I have been unable to locate in libraries either here in the United States or in Ecuador.
Following is a sampling of these items. With luck, some day I will find them buried in the corner
of a bookstore or on the table of a street vendor on a corner in Quito.
Conterón, Lourdes and Rosa de Viteri. Organizaciones indígenas del
Ecuador. Quito: Ministerio de Educación, Oficina de Alfabetización, 1984.
Costales, Piedad y Alfredo. Historia india de Cochisqui: ensayo de
interpretatción etnográfica, con documentos. Quito: Consejo Provincial de
Pichincha, 1986.
Garcia Nossa, Antonio. Anteproyecto de recolonización para la hacienda
Aichapicho. La estructura cooperativa de comercialización y existencia. Quito:
Fondo Especial de las Naciones Unidas, 1962?
Pérez Tamayo, Aquiles. Los Cayambis Mitimaes . Quito: Cartillas de
Divulgación Ecuatoriana, 1985.
Saad, Pedro. La CTE y su papel histórico. 3d ed. Guayaquil: Ed.
Claridad, 1979.
Tamayo Medina, César Augusto. Monografía de Cangahua.
Quito: Edit. Luz, 1972.
Annotated Bibliography
- Ayala Mora, Enrique. Las nacionalidades indígenas en el Ecuador:
contribución para su estudio. Serie Estudios, No. 3. Ibarra: Corporación
Imbabura, 1991.
Provenance: Libri Mundi (Oro Verde), Quito, 2/17/94, S/700 ($0.35 US)
Annotation: This is a contemporary analysis of "The Indian Question" by
socialist militant and perennial presidential candidate Enrique Ayala Mora. Ayala recognizes
Ecuador as a heterogeneous, plurinational, multiethnic, pluricultural country in which the
mestizo is not the only form of identity. Nevertheless, Indians without being mestizos
still are Ecuadorians. Ayala defends the right to Indigenous self-determination and their demands
for land.
- Bonifaz Jijón, Emilio. Sobre la pobreza del campesino del callejón
interandino. Quito: Instituto Ecuatoriano de Antropología y Geografía,
1965.
Provenance: Libreria Autores Ecuatorianos, Quito, 10/12/95, S/500
($0.17 US)
Annotation: Emilio Bonifaz Jijón was an owner of the
Guachalá Hacienda in Cayambe, one of the largest and oldest haciendas in Ecuador. He
was an amateur sociologist who embraced ideas that Indians were biologically inferior to whites.
A later book (Los indígenas de altura del Ecuador, 2d ed., Quito: Politecnica,
1976), received much broader distribution, but this short early publication foreshadowed these
same ideas. My dissertation research is on Cayambe, and so I was particularly interested in this
and other items which dealt with that part of the country.
- Bulnes, Martha. Me levanto y digo, testimonio de tres mujeres quichua.
Colección Ecuador/Testimonio. Quito: Editorial El Conejo, 1990.
Provenance: Quito, 12/3/93, S/4,400 ($2.20 US)
Annotation: Bilingual (Spanish-Quichua) interviews with Josefina
Amaguaña (from an Otavaleño weaver family), Tránsito Amaguaña
(the only surviving member of the campesino leaders who participated in the 1920
uprisings in Cayambe), and Nina Pacari (from a family from Cotacachi who is going through a
process of mestizaje). This is one of the first attempts to publish materials on Indians
in Ecuador in Quichua, the local Indigenous language.
- Cabay, Irene and others. "Año por año" Las fiestas de San Pedro en
Ayora - Cayambe. Quito: Abya-Yala, 1991.
Provenance: élepe-éle Libreria Internacional, Quito,
10/11/95, S/6,000 ($2.00 US)
Annotation: An anthropological review with local input of the local Saint's
feast of San Pedro in Ayora, Cayambe. It includes drawings and pictures of costumes and dances.
- Centro de Educación Popular (CEDEP). La historia de mi
organización: primer concurso de testimonio. 2 vol. Quito: Centro de
Educación Popular (CEDEP), 1986.
Provenance: Libreria Quito, 2/16/94, S/6,000 ($3.00 US)
Annotation: Testimonies of peoples' popular organizing experiences,
especially labor and peasant movements. The idea was to capture people talking about their own
organizational efforts.
- Comisión por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (CDDH). El
levantamiento indígena y la cuestión nacional. Quito: Abya Yala -
Comisión por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, 1990.
Provenance: Libri Mundi (Oro Verde), Quito, 2/17/94, S/2,000 ($1.00
US)
Annotation: A series of articles and documents on the 1990 Indigenous
uprising. Later many other and better articles and books on this uprising would be published, but
this was the first one on the subject and the hardest to find.
- Compaña 500 años de Resistencia Indígena y Popular. Nuestra
historia. Quito: Ediciones TINCUI-CONAIE, 1991.
Provenance: CONAIE, Quito, 12/11/95, S/1,500 ($0.50 US)
Annotation: This short publication (really more of a folleto or
pamphlet) is a cartoon-style history of Indigenous resistance to the Spanish conquest, and was
intended as a polemical device for popular distribution.
- COMUNIDEC. Encuentro intercultural de la identidad al desarrollo
plurinacional. Quito: COMUNIDEC.
Provenance: FICI, Otavalo, 7/25/96, S/5,000 ($1.67 US)
Annotation: This is a pamphlet listing Indigenous cultural organizations in
Ecuador which participated in a cultural festival in March of 1996. It gives a good overview of
the diversity of Indigenous organizations in Ecuador.
- Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE).
Derechos humanos y solidaridad de los pueblos indígenas. Quito: Fondo
Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio (FEPP), 1988.
Provenance: Book Market, Otavalo, 12/2/95, S/1,000 ($0.33 US)
Annotation: This bilingual (Spanish-Quichua) publication addresses the
issue of human rights abuses of Indigenous peoples. In 1988, it was one of the first publications
of the newly formed pan-Indian organization CONAIE.
- Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE).
Las nacionalidades indígenas en el Ecuador: Nuestro proceso organizativo.
2d ed., revised and expanded. Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1989.
Provenance: Quito, Summer 1990
Annotation: This is a survey of Indigenous organizations in Ecuador
written from the perspective of the organizations themselves, rather than just about them. It was
part of a political movement of organizations attempting to gain control over their own history.
- Cuadernos de la realidad Ecuatoriana: La cuestión indígena en el
Ecuador. No. 1. Quito: Centro de Investigaciones de la Realidad Ecuatoriana, October
1984.
Provenance: Autores Ecuatorianos, Quito, 1/10/93, S/3,000 ($1.50 US)
Annotation: This is a collection of articles on the "Indian Question" in
Ecuador. In 1992, another volume (no. 5, with the subtitle "El problema indígena hoy")
in this same series and on the same topic was published.
- ECUARUNARI and FENOC. Luchando por nuestros derechos:
organizaciónes campesinas de América Latina. Quito: Agencia
Latinoamericana de Información (ALAI), 1984.
Provenance: ALAI, Quito, 4/11/94, S/500 ($0.25 US)
Annotation: Includes articles on Indian and peasant movements in
Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. For Ecuador, it
represents a time when two organizations (FENOC and ECUARUNARI) which normally
competed with each other cooperated for common goals.
- La esperanza es lo que queda: Primer Encuentro-Taller Ecuménico
Latinoamericano de Pastoral Indígena: A los 500 años repensando el futuro.
Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1992.
Provenance: Libri Mundi, Quito, 8/9/96, S/300 ($0.10 US)
Annotation: Although published in Ecuador, this is a report from a
meeting in La Paz, Bolivia, in 1992 at which religious leaders from around the continent
attempted to rethink their work with Indigenous peoples in the context of the Quincentennial.
- Espinosa, Juan Cecilio, ed. Tradicion oral, Fiesta del sol: canto y campanilla. 2d
ed. Cayambe: Talleres SeriGraf-Cruz, 1992.
Provenance: Libreria Bugambilla, Quito, 2/8/96, S/6,000 ($2.00 US)
Annotation: Songs and other items related to June San Pedro/Sun
Festival. It contains 298 "coplas" as well as drawings of dress and instruments used during the
fiesta.
- Federación Indígena Pichincha Runacunapac Riccharimui. Historia de
la organización indígena en Pichincha: Federación Indígena
Pichincha Runacunapac Riccharimui. Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1993.
Provenance: Abya-Yala, Quito, 11/23/93, S/3,500 ($1.75 US)
Annotation: Five essays on the Indigenous-campesino movement
Pichincha Runacunapac Riccharimui. It represents one of the most extensive efforts of a local
Indigenous organization to record and publicize the history of their organization.
- Gallegos Lara, Joaquín and Nela Martínez. Los guandos. 2d ed.
Colección Grandes Novelas Ecuatorianas; 2. Quito: Editorial El Conejo, 1983.
Provenance: Autores Ecuatorianos, Quito, 8/9/96
Annotation: Most people find this novel a bit weird because
Joaquín Gallegos began it, but after his death Nela Martínez finished it. Like
Jorge Icaza's novel Huasipungo (listed below), it is about Indigenous struggles in
Ecuador. This item, however, has particular significance for me. Martínez is 82 years old
and personally knew most of the people I am writing about in my dissertation. Unfortunately, she
had a heart attack but after much begging with her daughter I was finally granted a brief audience
with her. I bought flowers to take along, but then while boarding a bus to go to her house I fell
into hole in the street where someone had removed the sewer cover. I showed up at their house
with broken flowers and blood streaming down my pants leg.
Martínez told me about this novel, but as it was thirteen years old it was virtually
impossible to find. So I inquired with the owner of my favorite bookstore, Autores Ecuatorianos.
She said that she might be able to find it for me. Of course, she finally did. I was so
excited that she had actually found a copy that I forgot to note how much it was, but all I
remember is that she charged me a very fair price. This was one of the last books I purchased in
Ecuador, as I left a week later.
- Gondard, Pierre and Freddy López. Inventario arqueologico preliminar de Los
Andes septentrionales del Ecuador. Quito: MAG, PRONAREG, ORSTOM, 1983.
Provenance: Autores Ecuatorianos, Quito, 5/10/96, S/15,000 ($7.50 US)
Annotation: This inventory of archaeological sites was conducted in
collaboration with a French development agency (ORSTOM). It includes an index of sites, maps,
and photos. This is one of the most expensive books in this collection. I purchased many of these
publications at this same bookstore for under a dollar. When the owner of the bookstore saw a
similar price on this book, she promptly changed it. I didn't complain. This book has long been
out of print, and I was just happy to have found a copy.
- Guaña, Pablo. Cosmovisión indígena. Quito: Tupac
Producciones Didácticas, 1993.
Provenance: Fundación Yanantin, Otavalo, 1/14/93, S/5,000
($2.50 US)
Annotation: A discussion of Indigenous cosmovision in the northern
Ecuadorian highlands. The author is a local leader and intellectual in Cayambe, and the
publication is fascinating as much for his perspectives on Andean cosmology as the discussion of
cosmology itself.
- Guaña, Pablo, Pedro Camino, and Quimbia Ulco. Inti Raymi Cayambi: la fiesta
sagrada del sol en la mitad del mundo; la fiesta de San Pedro en Cayambe. Cayambe:
CICAY-Museo Cayambe, 1992.
Provenance: Autores Ecuatorianos, Quito, 2/16/94, S/10,000 ($5.00 US)
Annotation: This book examines the Inti Raymi/San Pedro fiesta in
Cayambe. The first chapter examines the origins of the fiesta, and subsequent chapters look at
dances, rituals, costumes,, music, etc. Much of the book is comprised of the lyrics from songs
and newspaper clippings (mostly from 1989 and 1991 when the fiesta was to be canceled because
of the cholera outbreak). It also includes a glossary of Cayambi words.
- Guzmán, Luis. Cayambe: sus fiestas de San Pedro y del sol en la mitad del
mundo. 1994.
Provenance: Autores Ecuatorianos, Quito, 12/27/95, S/2,000 ($0.67 US)
Annotation: A collection of several short articles on the Fiesta de San
Pedro or Fiesta del Sol. Authors make a point to state that this is not the same as Inti Raymi
which was a royal Inka activity in Cuzco, but rather an authentic popular fiesta which predates the
Inkas in Cayambe. This short publication is from the Encuentro de escritores del Norte de
Pichincha, June 17, 1994.
- Ibarra C., Hernán. La formación del movimiento popular:
1925-1936. Quito: Centro de Estudios y Difusion Social (CEDIS), 1984.
Provenance: Libros Latinos, California, Oct 96, $15
Annotation: This is a historical analysis of the formation of popular
movements in Ecuador from 1925 to 1936. It was one of the works which helped define the
direction which my dissertation would take, so much so that when I saw it on a book list last fall I
splurged and purchased it. It is not one of the more valuable books in this collection, but it was
one of the most expensive and only one of two purchased outside of Ecuador.
- Ibarra C., Hernán. "Nos encontramos amenazados por todita la indiada": El
levantamiento de Daquilema (Chimborazo 1871). Serie Movimiento Indígena en el
Ecuador Contemporáneo, No. 3. Quito: Centro de Estudios y Difusión Social
(CEDIS), 1993.
Provenance: Autores Ecuatorianos, Quito, 1/10/93, S/6,000 ($3.00 US)
Annotation: History of a nineteenth-century uprising in Chimborazo led
by Fernando Daquilema in 1871. Argues that the revolt wasn't over land but over tribute
payments to the Church and state.
- Icaza, Jorge. Huasipungo. Colección Ariel Universal No. 3. Guayaquil:
Cromograf S.A., 1973.
Provenance: Autores Ecuatorianos, Quito, 1/10/93, S/2,000 ($1.00 US)
Annotation: The classic Ecuadorian indigenista (non-Indians
writing about Indians) novel. It is a fictional account of an Indian uprising on a hacienda in the
1930s.
- Instituto de Ecología y Desarrollo de Cayambe (IEDECA). Las comunidades
de Juan Montalvo. Cayambe: Instituo de Ecología y Desarrollo de Cayambe
(IEDECA), 1994.
Provenance: IEDECA, Cayambe, 11/30/95 (free)
Annotation: Land, ecology, and socio-econ situation of Juan Montalvo,
Cayambe. It was written on behalf of and to be used by a local Indigenous organization, the
Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de Juan Montalvo (UCIJUM).
- Instituto de Estudios Ecuatorianos, Políticas estatales y organización
popular (Quito: Instituo de Estudios Ecuatorianos, 1985), .
Provenance: Abya Yala, Quito, 12/12/95, S/12,000 ($4.00 US)
Annotation: This book is mostly on popular organizations in the 1970s
and 1980s, and it also includes extensive sections on earlier laws which laid a legislative basis for
subsequent community level-organizations and federations.
- Jaramillo Alvarado, Pío. El Indio Ecuatoriano: Contribución al Estudio
de la sociología indoamericana. 2 vol., 6th ed. Quito: Corporación Editora
Nacional, 1983.
Provenance: 1st vol. Libreria Bugambilla, Quito, 2/9/94, S/8,500 ($4.25
US); 2nd vol. Street Vender, Quito, 1/19/94, S/2,500 ($1.25 US)
Annotation: This is the first indigenista work in Ecuador, first
published in 1922. Together with Jorge Icaza's Huasipungo, it represents
indigenista thought in Ecuador in which liberal-minded whites paternalistically came
to the defense of victimized Indians. My copy of the second volume is missing the title page and
presentation by Marco Antonio Guzmán. I suspect that it was intentionally mutilated so
that an unsuspecting buyer would not realize that it was part of a two-volume set.
- Macas, Luis. El levantamiento indígena visto por sus protagonistas.
Quito: Instituto Científico de Culturas Indígenas (ICCI), 1991.
Provenance: Libri Mundi (Oro Verde), Quito, 2/17/94, S/2,000 ($1.00
US)
Annotation: This essay presents an Indigenous perspective on the 1990
Indian uprising. The author is a leader from Saraguro in the southern province of Loja and a
former president of the national Indigenous organization CONAIE.
- Martínez, Eduardo N. Héroes indígenas de
América. Colección Fondo de Ediciones Populares Evaristo. Quito:
Ediciones Populares Evaristo, 1991.
Provenance: Autores Ecuatorianos, Quito, 1/10/93, S/7,000 ($3.50 US)
Annotation: In the 1950s and 1960s, a group of journalists in Ecuador
arranged for twenty-one countries in the Americas to donate busts of Indigenous leaders to place
at the Plaza Indoamerica in Quito in front of the public Universidad Central. In this book,
Martínez (who was involved in acquiring the statutes) presents a history of the plaza and
brief biographies of each leader present there.
- Moreno Yánez, Segundo E. Alzamientos Indígenas en la
Audiencía de Quito, 1534-1803. Second edition. Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala,
1989.
Provenance: Quito, Summer 1990
Annotation: This bilingual (Spanish-Quichua) publication is a popularized
summary of Segundo Moreno's dissertation (published as Sublevaciones indígenas
en la Audiencía de Quito: Desde comienzos del siglo XVIII hasta finales de la
Colonia, 3rd ed., Quito: Ediciones de la Universidad Católica, 1985).
It includes historical drawings not included in the more academic publication, and are perhaps as
interesting as the text itself.
- Municipio de Cayambe. Cayambe 70. Cayambe: Municipio de Cayambe,
1970.
Provenance: CICAY, Cayambe, 11/27/95, S/2,000 ($0.67 US)
Annotation: Occasionally Cayambe has distributed a publication
commemorating its formal incorporation as a canton in 1883. This is one of those publications,
which is interesting for the information it presents on Indigenous peoples, agrarian reform,
economic development, and tourism.
- Municipio de Cayambe. Personajes ilustres del Canton Cayambe, 1867-1980.
Cayambe: Ilustre Municipio de Cayambe, 1993.
Provenance: Municipio de Cayambe, 11/22/95 (free)
Annotation: Short biographies of 14 famous people of Cayambe on the
110 aniversary of cantonization. Includes Dolores Cacuango and Jesús Gualavisí
(two Indigenous leaders), Rubén Rodríguez (a strong supporter of Indigenous
rights), and Aquiles Pérez Tamayo (a historian who studied Indigenous issues). A bust
was erected in the town for each person.
- Municipio de Cayambe. Revista Centenario. Cayambe: Municipio de Cayambe,
1983.
Provenance: CICAY, Cayambe, 11/27/95, S/2,000 ($0.67 US)
Annotation: Like the previous two items, this was also published on the
anniversary (this one the centennial) of the cantonization of Cayambe. It includes more
comprehensive information than either of the previous two publications, and some of this
information was utilized in the writing of the previous item.
- Obando A., Segundo. Tradiciones de La Esperanza, Imbabura.
Colección "Ñucanchic Unancha". Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1985.
Provenance: Libri Mundi, Quito, 11/23/95, S/500 ($0.17 US)
Annotation: This is one of a series of short histories on a variety of
Indigenous villages in northern Ecuador. It is short on text, long on drawings, and obviously
intended for a popular audience. The author is a priest, which colors his view of the villages.
These are very anthropological in tone, and this in the only volume in this series I ever managed
to find.
- Pichincha Riccharimui Ecuarunari. 500 años de resistencia indígena y
popular. Cuaderno de Educación No. 1. Quito: Secretaría de
Educación Alfabetización y Cultura Pichincha Riccharimui, 1990.
Provenance: Pichincha Congress, 12/16/95, S/500 ($0.17 US)
Annotation: This is a short history of a provincial Indigenous organization
and a report on decisions passed at a organizational congress. As the title implies, it was part of a
growing campaign of resistance against the quincentennial celebrations of the Spanish conquest.
Although this is number one of a series, I never found any evidence that any more volumes were
ever published.
- Pueblos del Ecuador. Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1986.
Provenance: Feria del Libro, Universidad Católica, 11/19/93,
S/2,500 ($1.25 US)
Annotation: This is a short (24 page) survey of Indigenous cultures in
Ecuador, probably originally printed for distribution at an Indigenous congress, possibly the
founding congress of the national Indigenous organization CONAIE. Most of this material was
later reprinted in a greatly expanded form in CONAIE's book Las nacionalidades
indígenas en el Ecuador: Nuestro proceso organizativo (listed above).
- Ramón V., Galo. La resistencia andina: Cayambe, 1500-1800.
Cuaderno de discusión Popular no. 14. Quito: Centro Andino de Acción Popular,
1987.
Provenance: Quito, Summer 1990
Annotation: This is the most academic and highly regarded book in this
bibliography. It examines Indigenous resistance in Cayambe during the colonial period,
particularly on the Guachalá hacienda. Although it received positive reviews even in
North America and was widely distributed, it has long been out of print and now is impossible to
find. I purchased this copy from him during a talk he gave during the summer of 1990 on the
historical significance of Indigenous uprisings. I consider this copy to be a collector's edition, and
thus include it here.
- Rodas, Raquel. Nosotras que del amor hicimos... Quito: Raquel Rodas,
1992.
Provenance: Libri Mundi, Quito, 3/26/96, S/20,000 ($6.67 US)
Annotation: Raquel Rodas has published a series of short books on
Indigenous peoples in Ecuador. This one in particular focuses on the actions of women. It is also
the most extensive, polished, and professional of her publications. I have most of her
publications, but still continue to search for an original copy of Crónica de un
sueño: las escuelas indígenas de Dolores Cacuango: una experiencia de educacion
bilingue en Cayambe (Quito: Proyecto de Educacion Bilingue Intercultural, MEC-GTZ,
1989).
- Rodas, Raquel. Tránsito Amaguaña: su testimonio.
Colección Difusión Cultural, 3. Quito: CEDIME, 1987.
Provenance: Libri Mundi, Quito, 11/23/95, S/7,500 ($3.75 US)
Annotation: Story of an Indigenous leader in Cayambe. The information
is presented in a cartoon format, with many drawings to demonstrate the text. The woman who is
featured in this publication (Tránsito Amaguaña) is also interviewed in Martha
Bulnes, Me levanto y digo, testimonio de tres mujeres quichua (listed above). Several
of the quotes are verbatim, and I'm not sure if one author plagiarized from the other or if
Amaguaña has given so many interviews about her experiences that she has memorized a
stump speech.
- Rosero, Fernando. Levantamiento indígena: tierra y precios. Serie
Movimiento Indígena en el Ecuador contemporáneo No. 1. Quito: Centro de
Estudios y Difusión Social, 1990.
Provenance: Nueva Imagen, Quito, 11/23/93, S/1,500 ($0.75 US)
Annotation: A short survey of issues related to the 1990 Indian uprising in
Ecuador, with a particular attention to issues of land and economics. Part of this was previously
published in the Ecuadorian magazine Punto de Vista (no. 400, Dec. 26, 1989), and
the 7th appendix (72-95) is a list of recent land conflicts by province.
- Rubio Orbe, Gonzalo. Los Indios Ecuatorianos: Evolución histórica y
políticas indigenistas. Quito: Corporación Editora Nacional, 1987.
Provenance: Quito, Summer 1990
Annotation: Gonzalo Rubio Orbe is an indigenista leader in
Ecuador who has written extensively on Indigenous peoples since the 1950s. This was his last
publication and represents a synthesis of all of his other publications. Although his other writings
are virtually impossible to find, this volume can still purchased in bookstores in Ecuador and I
include it hear to represent his intellectual contributions to the topic.
- Rubio Orbe, Gonzalo. Promociones indígenas en América.
Quito: Editorial Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1957.
Provenance: Libreria Platero, Buenos Aires, 5/30/94, $24
Annotation: The difficulties in locating Rubio Orbe's books is evidenced
by the fact that I had to travel to Argentina to purchase this volume. Not only is this the oldest
book in the collection, it was also the most expensive and only one of two purchased outside of
Ecuador. In this volume, Rubio Orbe examines Indians in Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.
- Santiana, Antonio. Nuevo panorama ecuatoriano del Indio. Quito: Editorial
Universitaria, 1966.
Provenance: Libri Mundi (Oro Verde), Quito, 2/17/94, S/2,000 ($1.00
US)
Annotation: I think this is largely just a reprint of his 1952 book (called
Panorama ecuatoriano del Indio), but I have never located a copy of that volume to
verify it. This book carried the notation Tomo I (First Voume) and inside the front cover it
describes 3 more volumes of a series called "Nuevo panorama ecuatoriano del Indio," but I've
never seen evidence that any of the other volumes were ever published.
- Taxo, Alberto, Hernán Castro, and María Guayasamín.
Levantamiento Runa 1990. Quito: INTICHURICUNA, CEDIME, 1992.
Provenance: CEDIME, Quito, 2/8/96, S/2,500 ($0.84 US)
Annotation: This is a popular description of the 1990 Indigenous uprising.
It is short on text and long on graphics, and rhetorical in nature. The main author (Alberto
Taxzo; his name is misspelled on this publication) is a leading Indigenous activist in Ecuador.
- Taxzo, Alberto. El Yachag y el Levantamiento Indígena: Testiminio directo de
Alberto Taxzo, el principal dirigente indígena de base del Ecuador. Interviewed by
Hernán Ramos. Quito: Editorial El Mañana, 1990.
Provenance: Libri Mundi (Oro Verde), Quito, 2/17/94, S/1,200 ($0.60
US)
Annotation: This is a lengthy interview with one of the leaders (see
previous item) of the 1990 uprising.
- Union de Comunidades Campesinas de Gualaceo (UCCG). Con las experiencias
vividas pensemos cual es la organización que queremos construir para el presente y el
futuro: Informe del proyecto de autodiagnostico y planificación participativa Union de
Comunidades Campesinas de Gualaceo (UCCG). Quito: FEPP, 1991.
Provenance: Libreria Intipampa, Cuenca, 2/1/96, S/1,800 ($0.60 US)
Annotation: An organizational study of a peasant organization from the
Cuenca area in southern Ecuador. It includes a brief history of the area, ethnic dynamics,
organizational history, chronology, plans and goals. It is a good brief organizational history,
though you have to be "in the know" to make sense of some of it. For example, it says that the
organization decided to support "List 9" but it never says that list 9 is FADI (essentially the
electoral wing of the Communist Party) and the implications of that. As with some other
publications here, it represents an attempt of organizations to write their own history.
- Yánez Cossío, Consuelo and Fausto Jara Jara. Ñucanchic
llactapac shimi. 3 vol. Quito: Centro de Investigaciones para la Educación
Indígena (CIEI), 1983.
Provenance: Libreria Studium, Quito, Dec. 1993, S/4,500 ($2.25 US);
Consuelo Yánez, Quito, 1/14/93 (free); 3rd vol., Pluma Libreros Editores,
Quito, 1/27/93, S/4,500 ($2.25 US).
Annotation: This is a popular Quichua language textbook commonly used
throughout Ecuador. The first volume prominently carries the label Tomo I (First Volume),
which led me to believe this as an introductory text and intermediate and advanced texts followed.
So, I set off on a quest to locate the other volumes. I discovered that the second volume
(subtitled libro del maestro or "teachers manual" and published by the Pontificia
Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Instituto de Lenguas y Lingüística,
1978) was an instruction manual for teachers. The third volume (subtitled Método
audio-visual de Quichua, or "Audio-visual Method of Quichua and published by the
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Instituto de Lenguas y
Lingüística, 1975) includes photographs by Ramón Astondoa Ruiz which
were also printed as film strips and intended to present visual representations of the dialogues in
the textbook.
- Yánez del Pozo, José. Yo declaro con franqueza (Cashnami
causashcanchic); memoria oral de Pesillo, Cayambe. Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala,
1986.
Provenance: Libreria Insula Barataria?, Quito, 4/8/94, S/2,900 ($1.45
US); also own 2nd ed., revised (1988), Abya Yala, Quito, 10/18/95, S/6,000 ($2.00 US)
Annotation: This book includes edited transcripts of oral histories of
Indigenous people from Cayambe. It is a particularly useful primary source for dissertations such
as mine. It also has a linguistic significance because it utilizes a colloquial Spanish heavily
influenced by the Indigenous Quichua language which many people would view as substandard.
- Yánez, Francisco, Rafael Pérez, and Tránsito Chela. Indios,
tierra y utopía. Serie Movimiento Indígena en el Ecuador
Contemporáneo, No. 2. Quito: CEDIS-CONAIE, 1992.
Provenance: Autores Ecuatorianos, Quito, 1/10/93, S/2,000 ($1.00 US)
Annotation: The winners of a contest for conducting oral histories and
Indigenous paintings are published in this volume.
- Ycaza, Patricio and Agustin Cueva. Etnocentrismo y pluriculturalidad en el proceso
historico ecuatoriano; Falacias y coartadas del quinto centenario. Quito: Centro de
Investigaciones Sociales y Ediciones (CISE), 1993.
Provenance: street vender, Quito, 4/24/94, S/3,500 ($1.75 US)
Annotation: This volume includes two essays by leading leftist
intellectuals in Ecuador on the theme of the Quincentennial. Neither author typically discusses
Indigenous issues, which makes this a significant and relatively rare item. It demonstrates the
impact which Indigenous discourse had on broader intellectual trends in Ecuador.
- Various Authors. Del indigenismo a las organizaciones indígenas. 2d ed.
Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1986.
Provenance: Abya-Yala, Summer 1990
Annotation: The title alone of this edited volume of essays represents an
interesting intellectual shift in Ecuador from outsiders discussing Indian peoples to Indians
organizing themselves. Interestingly, all of the authors in this volume are non-Indians. Overall,
this book represents ideological changes in Indigenous organizing strategies in Ecuador.
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