# NARRATIVE, EXPERIENCE, AND THE POLITICAL THE INTERSECTIONS OF LIVES AND ACTIVISM IN AN ECUADORIAN WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION Cristina Moretti B.A., Trent University, 1994 8, A THESIS SUBMITIED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department 0 f Sociology and Anthropology O Cristina Morctti 1997 SIMON ERASER UNIVERSITY DECEMBER 1997 All rights I-exrved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. National Library Bibli eque nationale !*I of Canada . du gads ~cqhitionsand Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services sewices bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellmgton . 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Name: Cristina 'More# Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Narrative, Experience, and the Political: The lntersections of Lives and Activism in an Ecuadorian Women's Organization Examining. Committee: Chair: Dr. Michael Kmny Dr. Stacy Pig Senior Supervisor Associat%Professor of Anthropology Dr. Dara Culhane Member AsHant Professor of Anthropology Dr. htdeGrandis Member Associate Professor, Hispanic and Italian Studies The University of British Columbia Dr. Jerald Zaslove External Examiner Professor of English hrector, Institute for Humanities Simon Fraser Universitv Date Approved: Abstract e This thesis engages ethnographically with some aspects of the Taller de Comunicacidn Mujer, an Ecuadorian women's organization located in Quito, Ecuador. Since 1984 the Taller de Comunicacidn Mujer has been involved in projects for women's integral empowerment. This includes organizing around the concrete needs of low-income urban women, as well as addressing the ways in which woden's identities are socially constructed. To this purpose, the Taller de Comunicacidn Mujer relies on recuperating and revaluing women's experiences as a starting point for analyzing and changing their status in Ecuadorian society..This thesis pays particular attention to how narratives about the intersections of personal lives and activism - life story fragments and comments - constitute an integral part of the organization and its projects of social and political renewal. I argue that this net of narrations can be an important, fluid site for women's engagement in the political. It is a locus where the subjects are constantly recreated, and where the 'personal' and the 'political' are daily negotiated and commented upon. This thesis draws on feminist debates on experience, literature on social movelgfents, and the concepts of popular education and theatre in order to address this interconnectedness of narratives, experiences, and political involvement within the project of the organization. It is based on fieldwork which was carried out from January to April 1996. My understanding of the organization is particularly structured by and around the life story fragments of three women involved in the Taller de Comunicacidn Mujer: Maria Escudero, 'Milena' and 'Silvia'. Looking at the organization through these stories allows me to attend to the shifting narrative space within the organization as a locus where the political might be reinvented. This thesis also addresses the complex issue of experience as something both grounding in relation to political action and always in need of critical examination. Finally, it underlines that narrative practices are important politically - not necessarily as 'better' versions of truth and 'truer' representation of the world, but as complex negotiations of the place of personal experience in relation to activism, politics, and history. To my family: Andrea, Stefano, and Enrica. I thank allathebankpants of the Taller de Cornunicacidn Mujer, whose work I deeply respect and value and which sustains the hopes and possibilities for the creation of better societies and cultures. I e~peciallythank the staff and the women's group La Cantera for sharing their knowledge, experience, and vision with me. I will always remember the staff of the daycare La Cantera who welcomed me so warmly and who bring light to the daily life of the neighbourhood. Man'a Escudero, 'Milenu', and 'Silvia' shared their life stories with me. and I am 4 I) deeply grateful to them for their genercbsity, their trust, and the hope and energy they transmit. Maria Escudero offered me a home in physjcal, spiritual, and intellectual sense: she taught me strong and beautiful things about life, freedom, human solidarity, and art, and invited me on a journey towards fuil and empowered humanity. I am forever indebted to her and I am aware that these words can not fully express the importance for me of having met her. I also thank Anne-Marie for her support, encouragement and friendship - which made a big differznce during my stay in Ecuador. B In anada, the ongoing insight, dixction, support and encouragement of Stacy L. Pigg hebeen the driving force behind all my research and writing. Thank you Stacy, it was a true honour to have you as my supervisor! I am also greitly indebted to Rita De . -+ Grandis and Dara Culhane for their patience, ideas and comments. t C Thank you also to Jerry Zaslove. Diny Lacombe, Annthea Whitaker, Lori Barkley, Marie-Thk&se Reinarz, Laura Atkinson, Mickey Naisby, and to all graduate students in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Special thanks to Anna Kemble, who put me in contact with the Tullrr de Comunicncio'n Mrrjer. I thank my family and all of my friends who encouraged and supported me in many ways - from baking muffins to solving my problems with formatting and printing! Thank you all! Contents .. Approval ...................................................................................................... u ... Abstract ....................................................................................................... w Dedication .....................................................................................................% iv .. Acknowledgements .......................................................................................... v List of Figures ............................................................................................... vii ... Note on Translations ............................................................: .......................... mu Introduction ..-...., ............................................................................................ 1 Chapter One. A Decade of Empowerment.. ............................................................ .17 * Chapter Two. 'Experience' and the Political - Four Fragments.. .....................................34 I. Mruia Escudero.. ............................................................................... -34 II. 'Milena' .........................................................................................-39 In. Narrated Space ...............................................................................-45 * IV. Rain Stories.. ..................................................................................q7 Chapter Three. Picturing Women.. ......................................................................-57 Chapter Four. 'Silvia' ......................................................................................77 I. A Woman's Story ..................*............................................................. 77 * II. Spaces of Participation ........................................................................80 Bibliography .................................................................................................. 92 tr 0 List of Figures 1. Examples of images depicting collective solutions .................................................. 72 2. The Taller stresses that popular women be both the one who see and who are seen .. :.........73 3. 'Discovering oneself .................................................................................. -74 4. ... impersonating the role and-figure of a Woman. ................................................ ..75 5. An opaque mirror, which makes us see reality differently ....................................... ..76 i Note on Translations , *t All of the material written or publisheh by the Taller de Comunicacidn Mujer is originally in Spanish and the translations presented in this thesis are mine. My translations other than '7 these are indicated in the text. In presenting quotes from material written or published by the Taller de ~omur;i&cidn Mujer, I have quoted also the original spanish version wherever this expresses some shades of meanings not easily translatable into English. In this way, Spanish spealung readers can appreciate the difference. Introduction We do not believe in '100% effective