UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE U.S. Ecuadorian
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE U.S. Ecuadorian Altruistic Expression: Synthesizing the Ancestral With U.S. Latino/a Immigration Experiences A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Linda Jean Hall June 2017 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Yolanda T. Moses, Chairperson Dr. Thomas Patterson Dr. Christine Ward Gailey Copyright by Linda Jean Hall 2017 The Dissertation of Linda Jean Hall is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGMENT I owe an eternal debt of gratitude to my chair, Yolanda Moses whose witty and insightful guidance inspired me as much as it often left me speechless. She is an inspirational mentor who never allowed me to stumble. I was incredibly blessed to also have two wise, patient, and devoted committee members, Thomas Patterson and Christine Ward Gailey. I’ve learned from this powerful threesome that knowledge is a tool that can break the chains of oppression by turning inequality literally on its head. Much of the field work for this project in New York City and Miami was funded by a UCR Humanities Graduate Student Research Grant and supported by the UCR Center for Ideas and Society. iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION U.S. Ecuadorian Altruistic Expression: Synthesizing the Ancestral With U.S. Latino/a Immigration Experiences by Linda Jean Hall Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Anthropology University of California, Riverside, June 2017 Dr. Yolanda T. Moses, Chairperson This investigation brings to the forefront what Ecuadorian immigrants claim is their identity and how in their words they practice their cultural and social relations in two spaces: Ecuador and the United States (U.S.). This ethnographic study’s perspective at the intersection of race, gender, and class facilitated the exploration of how reflexively aware individuals (Giddens 1991) ---inextricably tied to varying degrees by DNA to African ancestry (Paz‐y‐Miño 2016) --- negotiate ideas about who they believe they are and what they want as they establish transnational identities. Ecuadorian migrants in this study give meaning and speak about the practice of their diverse racial-cultural identities by comparing their ideas of who they are to the U.S. government’s 2010 census-based claim that immigrants from Ecuador may define themselves as “Hispanic” or “Latino/a”, Chicano/a, and Afro-American or Afro-Latino. v Existing scholarship brought to the surface the concept of Buen Vivir – living good -- that frames and shapes across ethnic and racial boundaries the construction of identity, aspirations, hopes, and dreams in Ecuador (Gudynas 2011). This investigation focused on the tri-axis junction of this Andean ideal emphasizing altruistic acts and self- improvement, racialized public policies, and the rigorous demands to acquire what each subject personally defined as the American Dream in the U.S. For example, this investigation asked subjects to discuss ways in which they believe they have appropriated or ignored the ancestral component of their racially and ethnically diverse identities to acquire what they believe to be living good, or the conflation of principles and ideals seated in both Buen Vivir and the American Dream. The findings of this anthropological study about the lived experiences of Ecuadorian migrants in Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami increases the breadth of knowledge across disciplines about the global migration of populations struggling to come to terms with the plasticity of multifaceted ethnic and diasporic heritages. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... viii 1. CHAPTER ONE: Introduction ............................................................................... 1 2. CHAPTER TWO: Foundational Theory and Synthesis ........................................ 14 3. CHAPTER THREE: Immigration’s Driving Forces and Impact .......................... 35 3. CHAPTER FOUR: Subjects, Methods, and Site Selection ................................... 51 4. CHAPTER FIVE: Los Angeles and the Environs ................................................. 72 5. CHAPTER SIX: Miami Sprawl and Multi-Latin-American Dreams .................... 126 6. CHAPTER SEVEN: New York City Spatial Mobility and Cultural Diversity ..... 186 7. CONCLUSION: …………………………………………………………... ......... 233 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................. 247 9. APPENDIX A ....................................................................................................... 262 10. APPENDIX B ....................................................................................................... 263 11. APPENDIX C ....................................................................................................... 264 12. APPENDIX D ....................................................................................................... 265 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure A1: Ecuadorian Ethnic Groups…………………………...…………………24 Figure A2: Ecuadorian Socio-Economics by Ethnic Group………………………. .25 Figure A3: Illustration – Pancho Jaime…………………………...……………...... 31 Figure A4: U.S. Homeland Security Immigration Statistics…………….…………. 42 Figure A5: Estimates of Ecuadorian Immigration by Country…………………….. 43 Figure B6: Political and Social Unrest …………………………...……………....... 53 Figure B7: Academic Arrests and Institutional Harassment……………..………… 55 Figure B8: Universidad Andino Simón Bolívar - email……………..……………... 56 Figure B9: Club ANCON…………………………...…………………..…………... 64 Figure C10: Club ANCON dancing…………………………...……………………... 97 Figure C11: Judy Olvera la Morena…………………………...……………………... 98 Figure C12: All-In-One Auto Center/Dismantling……………..……………………101 Figure C13: Award by Gio…………………………...…………………..…………..116 Figure C14: Yolanda Villegas…………………………...……………………………123 Figure D1: Vecinos en Acción…………………………...………………………......132 . Figure D2: La Liga Ecuatoriana…………………………...…………………………146 Figure D3: Susanna and Husband…………………………...………………………..149 Figure D4: Food – Liga Ecuatoriana…………………………...……………………..153 Figure D5: Jose and Paula - Miami…………………………...……………………….162 Figure E1: New York City Boroughs…………………………...……………………..187 Figure E2: Queens Borough…………………………...…………………..…………..190 viii Figure E3: Ecuadorian Civic Committee Nueva York ECCNY………………………196 Figure E4: Oswaldo and Marta Guzmán…………………………...………………….201 Figure E5: Leonor Torres Director of Events……………..……………..……………..213 Figure E6: ECCNY’s funded program in Quito……………..……………..…………..217 Figure E7: Jose Juan…………………………...…………………..…………………...223 Figure E8: Ecuadorian Restaurant Food Company……………..……………………...227 ix Chapter One Introduction This dissertation brings to the forefront what Ecuadorian immigrants claim is their identity and how in their words they practice their cultural and social relations in two spaces: Ecuador and the United States (U.S.). This ethnographic study’s perspective at the intersection of race, gender, and class facilitated the exploration of how reflexively aware individuals (Giddens 1991) ---inextricably tied to varying degrees by DNA to African ancestry (Paz‐y‐Miño 2016) --- negotiate ideas about who they believe they are and what they want as they establish transnational identities. Ecuadorian migrants in this study give meaning and speak about the practice of their diverse racial-cultural identities by comparing their ideas of who they are to the U.S. government’s 2010 census-based claim that immigrants from Ecuador may define themselves as “Hispanic” or “Latino/a” and Afro-American or Afro-Latino. This research grew out of an anthropological study of the Ecuadorian immigrants’ claim of a type of identity that by including a tie to Afro ancestral roots becomes susceptible to the discrimination and marginalization associated with racism here in the United States. For example, prevailing stereotypes associated with the social classifications of negro, black, and Afro-American that appear on public surveys such as the U.S. Census debase and denigrate the cultural and social value of Afro descendants while exposing them to extreme emotional stress and excessive tension (Cox 1948, Fanon 1952, and Adams & Sanders 2003). The new data about Ecuadorian migrants derived from this study will serve as an incentive across disciplines for other social scientists to 1 seek answers directly from the immigrant populations about an insidious process – how people of African heritage from other countries become racialized within the U.S. context. Racism is an exercise of systemic discrimination and this practice justifies the creation of hierarchies or the use of racial difference to facilitate the marginalization of populations such as the Indigenous and Afro groups in societies. In practice, racism privileges the few and it has always been a factor of everyday life in Ecuador. Since the colonial era and even in contemporary Ecuadorian society, political and social oligarchies in Ecuador have used differences in class, gender, and above all race to control and create lasting dissention between racially and ethnically diverse groups. In this way, over time the often-intersecting social hierarchies produced by these processes of division were able to reproduce the same outcome – the perpetual social isolation of people of African heritage (De la