When the other raises the voice: the ecuadorian indigenous movement as a collective actor between 90s and 2019.

Abstract

The process of colonization created the figure of the denied Other in Latin America. Since then, Afro-indigenous peoples, marked by a history of racialization and silencing, have fought for their place in society. Particularly concerning Ecuadorian indigenous peoples, significant restructuring in their organizational forms is evident from the 1970s, which will have repercussions in the 90s. The Inti Raymi uprising positioned the indigenous movement as a relevant actor in the national political scene. With the intensification of protests, the indigenous movement was able to assert its position and promote greater intersectionality between ethnic-identity patterns and demands related to the social, economic, and political context, connected to other popular sectors. In this article, we present an analysis of these changes, characterizing the patterns and demands of the indigenous movement in the major uprisings that occurred in Ecuador between 1990 and 2019. The systematization of data compiled from national newspapers and retrieved from Kipu Magazine allowed us to identify some features of the conflictive cycles, highlighting transformations that enabled the indigenous movement to play a significant role in social mobilizations at each moment, uniting and consolidating broader societal grievances.