Contested Identities: Urbanisation and Indigenous Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Emma O’Driscoll Contested Identities: Urbanisation and Indigenous Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Emma O’Driscoll School of Anthropology and Conservation Supervisor: Dr Daniela Peluso A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Canterbury, Kent March 2015 Contested Identities: Urbanisation and Indigenous Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Emma O’Driscoll CONTENTS List of illustrations ................................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 6 Prologue: The Dawn Raid ..................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 18 Ethnographic context ............................................................................................................. 21 Research questions ................................................................................................................. 28 A note on terminology ........................................................................................................... 30 Being Shuar, being ‘indigenous’ ............................................................................................ 32 Argument ............................................................................................................................... 34 Significance of research ......................................................................................................... 41 Organisation of the text ......................................................................................................... 45 Chapter 2: Methodology and Ethical Considerations ...................................................... 46 Choosing a field site .............................................................................................................. 46 Methods used ......................................................................................................................... 49 Learning the language ............................................................................................................ 55 Social media ........................................................................................................................... 57 Conducting urban ethnography .............................................................................................. 58 Reflexivity ............................................................................................................................. 61 Ethical considerations ............................................................................................................ 64 Chapter 3: Ethnographic context ....................................................................................... 66 Ecuador .................................................................................................................................. 66 Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous Rights in Ecuador ......................................................... 71 Shuar ...................................................................................................................................... 79 Fieldsites ................................................................................................................................ 89 2 Contested Identities: Urbanisation and Indigenous Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Emma O’Driscoll Chapter 4: Theoretical Framework ................................................................................... 103 The concept of identity .......................................................................................................... 103 Ethnicity and ethnic identity .................................................................................................. 107 Understanding indigeneity ..................................................................................................... 123 The construction of indigenous identity in Ecuador .............................................................. 129 Urbanisation in the Ecuadorian Amazon ............................................................................... 136 Chapter 5: Shuar Urban Ethnicity ..................................................................................... 156 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 156 ‘She can be your guarantor’: Ethnic hierarchies in Sucúa ..................................................... 161 Ethnic identity and ethnic hierarchies .................................................................................... 168 Ethnogenesis in Action: Education and technology .............................................................. 174 ‘I want to marry an indigenous man’: Awareness of indigenous identity ............................. 181 Long hair and ‘ojos chinos’ ................................................................................................... 185 An urban Shuar in a rural Shuar world .................................................................................. 188 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 198 Chapter 6: The Hyperreal Shuar ....................................................................................... 200 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 200 ‘Indigenous peoples are the best conservationists’: the ‘international’ mirror ...................... 208 ‘We should all wear traje típico to work’: the ‘indigenous politics’ mirror .......................... 221 Please show me your indigenous I.D.’: the government mirror ............................................ 227 Staying with ‘the real Shuar’: the tourism mirror ................................................................. 231 ‘In a few years there will be no Shuar’: the mestizo mirror .................................................. 235 The Burden of Heritage: The patrimonio intangible mirror .................................................. 238 ‘Revitalising Shuar culture’: Clara’s project ......................................................................... 242 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 245 Chapter 7: A Process of Becoming ..................................................................................... 247 Gabriela’s speech ................................................................................................................... 247 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 250 Migration and the formation of the Shuar urban middle class .............................................. 252 3 Contested Identities: Urbanisation and Indigenous Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Emma O’Driscoll Bourdieu: social field and capital .......................................................................................... 260 Urban middle classed Shuar and conceptualisations of indigeneity ...................................... 264 Broader horizons .................................................................................................................... 274 Defying convention ............................................................................................................... 279 (Re)claiming ‘mestizo’ space ................................................................................................ 281 The President’s Visit .............................................................................................................. 282 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 286 Chapter 8: Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 288 Across the generations ........................................................................................................... 288 Summary of the arguments of this thesis ............................................................................... 289 Contributions to anthropological scholarship ........................................................................ 292 Implications of research ......................................................................................................... 295 Future research possibilities .................................................................................................. 298 Epilogue ................................................................................................................................. 301 Appendix I ............................................................................................................................. 304 Appendix II ............................................................................................................................ 305 Appendix