Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-fvjsw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T14:39:38.581Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Operation Auca

Contact and Evangelization of the Waorani Indians in Ecuador

from Part III - Negotiating Social, Political, and Everyday Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2026

Pedro Feitoza
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Joseph Florez
Affiliation:
California State University, Bakersfield
Get access

Summary

The chapter examines the cultural contact between the Waorani indigenous group and Ecuadorian society that occurred between the years 1950 and 1970. The Waorani are a group of 4,000 hunter-gatherers from the Amazon jungle that remained in voluntary isolation until the arrival of missionaries from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). Historically, the Waorani were represented as the “other”; the savage with a history of attacking neighboring indigenous people and the nascent Ecuadorian oil industry that wanted to exploit indigenous territories with the support of American evangelists. Among the strategies and consequences of evangelization were population movements, a reduction of enemy tribes in a single territory, infections and deaths from diseases, the expansion of the community’s agricultural and economic frontiers (colonization and extractivist industry), and socioeconomic changes. The Waorani responses reflected a sui generis interpretation of the Christian message that attempted to reconcile distinct universes of meaning and significance. The chapter highlights the recorded testimonies of the first Waorani converts and accounts from SIL missionaries.

Information

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×