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9780252077975 Academic Inspection Copy

Histories of the Present

People and Power in Ecuador
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An engaging study of the shifting power relations in Ecuador since the indigenous-led uprising in 1990, Histories of the Present: People and Power in Ecuador interweaves intimate ethnographic detail with international perspectives on political and economic relations. In critically examining transformative cultural dynamics in Latin America, Norman E. Whitten Jr. and Dorothea Scott Whitten find that marginalized groups in Ecuador are instrumental to events that have changed the very structure of the region since the uprising. Central to this timely anthropological study is a detailed examination of long-term processes of identity construction and change among indigenous Afro-Latin American peoples, including a look at primary language use and the words describing race and ethnicity employed by different groups. In exploring the signification of ethnic and racial identities in Ecuador, Histories of the Present demonstrates how an enduring commitment to ethnography contributes to theoretical understandings of how people transform their worlds.
Preface vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: To Remake the World 1 Prelude 23 1. Colonial Mentality in Making the World 25 Prelude 43 2. Indigenous Constructions of ''Blackness'' 45 Norman E. Whitten Jr. and Rachel Corr Prelude 65 3. The Topology of El Mestizaje 67 Prelude 91 4. The Ecuadorian Indigenous Uprising of 1990 93 Prelude 115 5. Ecuador in the New Millennium 117 Prelude 141 6. Indigenous Ethnographers Portray Their World 143 Dorothea Scott Whitten Prelude 163 7. Indigenous Modernity 165 Conclusion: Ethnography and Theory in Cultural Life 187 Notes 203 References 211 Index 243
''The length and breadth of the Whittens' fieldwork in Ecuador adds a level of depth and insight that is unparalleled in Latin American studies. Their way of integrating earlier and more recent theories allows readers to understand how the contemporary concern for ethnogenesis, interculturality, and alternative modernities was anticipated several decades ago in works that still speak to us today in relevant terms.'' Jonathan D. Hill, author of Made-from-Bone: TricksterMyths, Music, and History from the Amazon ''Brimming with urgency and outrage, this fresh and engaging book examines the recent and profound transformation of racial and ethnic politics in Ecuador. The Whittens challenge us to reexamine assumptions about 'marginal peoples' and their relationship to the structural powers of the nation-state, armed forces, multinational corporations, and international agencies.'' Kris Lane, author of Quito 1599: City and Colony in Transition
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