Introduction
Since Ecuador is smaller than a single US state, Arizona, I had assumed that its population would be homogenous. Little did I know that there are many fragmented ethnic groups. The Spaniards extensively propagated Quichua to unite Ecuadorians through a single language and catechize them, or teach them the principles of Christianity. However, societal divisions prevail, and the country’s ethnic groups retain their dialects. Although all the dialects emerged from the same base language, some are very similar while others are incomprehensible to natives outside the given group. The indigenous peoples also differ in social rules.
Otavalo
General Information
Over time, mixed people have come to reside in parts of Ecuador, such as Otavalo, alongside natives. At first, multiracial people owned most of the city’s houses, for, at the time, mixed residents outnumbered indigenous ones. Gradually, throughout the 1990s, indigenous people began buying houses to limit multiracial people’s real estate. Since the natives were the Otavalos, meaning the city was named after their ethnic group, they felt that it belonged to them only. Thus, native Otavalos owned most of the businesses we saw in the city.
Physical Characteristics
Otavalo is the only place where the men have traditionally sported long, braided hair. Ecuador’s constitution states that you cannot force an Otavalo to cut his hair due to this practice. Otavalo women tie their hair but do not braid it. In the 1950s but especially after 1960, Otavalo men had to move toward the main cities to find jobs more easily. Thus, they cut their hair to look like multiracial people and avoid prejudice. Indigenous and mixed people look very similar, but their long hair would identify the Otavalo men as natives. These men also changed into more westernized clothes. Overall, to gain access to jobs, Otavalo men had to lose a part of their tradition.
Thus, in current-day Otavalo, women maintain traditional clothing more than men do. Although Otavalo women must dress traditionally outside their houses, they can change at home. For example, a woman who works with our guide’s mother dresses as Riya and I do at her job. However, when she returns to her town, she wears the outfit typical of her community.
Political Parties
There are 18 different political parties in Ecuador, including an Indian party called Pachacútec. In 1990, the indigenous peoples initiated the Indian movement, and in 1992, they walked from their respective territories to Quito and forced the government to recognize their party. Since 1994, Pachacútec has been an official party whose flag interestingly features a rainbow. Natives named both their party and movement after Pachacútec, a strong Peruvian warrior who fought against the Spaniards and defeated them once.
Ecuador is the first country in the Americas to have an Indian party. Initially, multiracial people occupied some positions within the party, but now, natives place their own people in such roles. Additionally, the current mayor of Otavalo is a native.
Gender Roles and Expectations
Gender roles and expectations depend on the part of the country. Inhabitants of the Amazon basin, for instance, live more traditionally because they encountered Western culture in the 1940s to 1960s and were thus the last people in Ecuador to do so. Their traditional lifestyle is very different from that of the Ecuadorians in the mountain area, for the Spanish imposed their culture on them.
In small towns and the countryside, men and women’s familial roles have remained traditional although there is some leniency. Our guide shared that in contemporary Latino culture, women make the decisions but lead men to believe that they are in control. In his opinion, a family’s success hinges on mothers rather than what men provide. In Quito and other big cities, some residents follow tradition due to religious devotion while others do not. Likewise, some are feminists while others are not.
Environments’ Effects on the Ethnic Groups’ Personalities
The Coast vs. the Mountains
Ecuadorians’ personality traits also differ from area to area. Those near the coast can see the horizon; geographic barriers do not obstruct their view. Thus, they are more free-spirited and open-minded. In contrast, since those from the mountains cannot see others or the horizon, they tend to be close minded. Their cold, high altitude environment can result in a calm and quiet disposition.
To clarify, although ecology informs your personality, there is no guarantee that you will develop certain qualities, and personality assessments are subjective. For instance, our guide shared that the way Ecuadorians treat others, dance, laugh, and tease are shared characteristics but those from Quito are the funniest and sharpest. However, he is from Quito, so he may be slightly biased!
Other Latin American Countries
In our guide’s opinion, while countries such as Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia are similar to Ecuador, Brazil has a more vibrant energy. Ecuadorians seek to replicate Brazil’s celebrations and lively dancing. Argentina is different from Ecuador, for it is very westernized and has been influenced by the Italians, for instance. Although many Europeans also traveled to Paraguay, instead of changing natives, these settlers integrated into the community.
Values
Unlike many qualities discussed in this post, values do not significantly vary based on your location within Ecuador or even Latin America. Latinos cherish family, especially mothers, freedom, and religion. While honesty is another value, our guide believes that Latinos are sometimes more honest with themselves than those around them.
The value of family connects to that of self-worth because if you do not adhere to your promises, you will shame your family, a reprehensible wrongdoing. Our guide feels that in his time, your worth held more value than a formal contract; if you said you would execute an action, that declaration was enough.
Conflicts Between Communities
The Waorani
In the past, there have been many conflicts between ethnic groups in the mountain area, especially the Amazon. In 1982 to 1983, a Catholic priest and nun crossed into the territory of the Waorani, whom the Spanish called savages (“awqas” in Quichua) due to what they viewed as wild behavior. The Waorani perceive everyone outside of their tribe as one. Thus, if one outsider treats them wrongfully, they take revenge on all other groups. After the military was sent to deal with the Waorani’s destruction of many small towns, it found the nun and priest dead. The tribe’s female members had wounded the nun while the men had done the same to the priest.
Since then, no one has seen the Waorani, for they do not want to be in contact with the Western world. Rather, they hope to maintain their lifestyle from four-thousand years ago. Although some consider their mannerisms barbaric, these behaviors help the Waroanis survive in the ruthless Amazon.
The Tagaeri and Taromenane
Within the Amazon basin, there is an area designated to Waorani and another called the Intangible Zone where two other groups reside: the Tagaeri and the Taromenane. Other Ecuadorians no longer push these groups to become westernized. Similar to the Waorani, the Tagaeri and Taromenane continue to live as they did thousands of years ago and have practices perceived as violent. When a Waorani chief fought with a Tagaeri chief and took his head, the press came to cover the murder. However, the Waorani chief placed the head between him and the camera as if to declare that neither the press nor the military had the right to interfere.
The Canelos-Quichua and Shuar
Our guide used to work with a man from the ethnic group Canelos-Quichua, which resides in the Amazon basin. Although this man’s sister was not a Shuar herself, she married one. Shuar tend to be physically strong and were headhunters, who shrink severed heads to the size of fists and close victims’ mouths, noses, eyes, and ears. This tradition of head shrinking is called Tzantza. Since your head supposedly holds your spirit, Shuar claim to own people, including their wisdom, strength, and all their other qualities. Even after shrinking victims’ heads, Shuar maintain their face shapes so that others recognize their relatives and realize they are in the tribe’s possession. Thus, anyone who crosses into Shuar territory leaves with an intense fear of their strength and ruthlessness.
A Grave Misunderstanding
Suddenly, around 10 years ago, Canelos-Quichua began falling sick and dying, but residents did not know how to explain the tragedy. However, when our guide heard that his coworker’s niece was sick and his sister had died, he suspected rabies was the cause. In the Amazon basin, there is a vampire bat that discreetly transmits rabies, for the bites are very small and the bats have an anesthetic.
Yet the Shuar thought that a lady from a neighboring tribe resented his wife and had encouraged a shaman to curse her. Furious, the Shuar gathered his family, crossed into the territory of the neighboring tribe, and killed whom he thought was the murderer. He believed this action would reverse the curse and prevent his son from dying, too. The true reason his son survived was that rabies began to be treated after studies of his wife’s brain revealed that the disease had, in fact, killed her.
These types of violent conflicts still occur, but at varying frequencies depending on where you live in Ecuador. Our guide considers the tribes in the Amazon basin to be “primitive;” they do not listen if they are told their actions are wrong. As mentioned, they have developed this stubbornness and determination to execute their goals in order to survive the dangers of the Amazon.
Conclusion
You may have picked up on a common theme: your habitat does not influence your characteristics in a purely genetic sense; it also shapes your behaviors and mindset. For this reason, there is an inseparable tie between cultural and biological anthropology.
Sources
- Thank you to our Abercrombie & Kent guide in mainland Ecuador for sharing the information upon which this post is based.
- Feature image: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ecuadorean-indigenous-communities-sue-halt-oil-development-2021-10-18/
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