Intercultural relations, political profiles and the construction of what is valuable in the north of Esmeraldas: An ethnographic approach

Abstract

For the Chachi and Afro-Ecuadorian people of the Cayapas, the configuration of what is morally valuable is constructed through a series of experiences. In these experiences, the connection of the self, -as the construction of oneself-, with the collective unconscious, -as the provider of the archetypical raw material for the apprehension of the environment-, leads to actions aimed at thriving politically, ethically, and economically. Hence, moralities, as repertoires of action and grammars of constructing what is valuable, can also transform into economic actions and decisions about the environment with significant density and political weight.
This work explores interculturality as a form of interethnic convergences contextualized; the constant reactualization of the land’s ancestry, as a category that brings into interaction religious, economic, and organizational components, which endow the decisions made by individuals transformed into men and women of politics with various meanings.