The Ecuador Reader is Duke University Press's most recent addition to its Latin America Readers series, which includes volumes on Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba and Costa Rica. Designed to be a compilation of original texts spanning the period of conquest and colonial rule through the twentieth century, as well as providing contemporary analyses of Ecuadorean society, culture and politics, this anthology offers a broad introduction to the country's geopolitical ‘place’ in the region and world, its diverse cultural and linguistic traditions and its intellectual production. Although it is not entirely comprehensive and lacks at least two key areas of analysis, The Ecuador Reader would be a useful companion text for undergraduate and graduate courses in Latin American studies, political science, sociology, anthropology and history, among other fields.
The Ecuador Reader is divided into six sections, each including its own introduction: ‘Conquest and Colonial Rule’, ‘A New Nation’, ‘The Rise of the Popular’, ‘Global Currents’, ‘Domination and Struggle’ and ‘Cultures and Identities Redefined’. It captures the breadth and depth of some topical sections more successfully than others. In their introduction, the editors address the process of how they selected materials for the reader. As they point out, Ecuador is not often on the ‘geographic or imaginative map’ of people living outside Latin America, nor, for that matter, of other Latin Americans (p. 1). They state: ‘Among outsiders who do have an image of Ecuador, the country is generally seen as relatively peaceful, easy to get around in, and possessing spectacular beauty in both human (i.e., indigenous people with colorful clothes and weavings) and natural forms (i.e., the Andes, Amazon, and Galápagos Islands)’ (p. 1). Their aim as editors is to dispel myths about Ecuador as a ‘banana republic’, challenge pervasive cultural stereotypes and introduce readers to the richness of Ecuador's geographic, political and cultural landscape. They also aim to further problematise Ecuador's position vis-à-vis globalisation, and to introduce readers to the legacy of economic instability, and more recently, the pervasive debt crisis and reliance on structural adjustment loans. In relation to this, the anthology offers readers some idea of Ecuador's political trajectory and forms of governance in light of the country's struggle for political sovereignty and economic autonomy. Unfortunately, very little of the more contemporary process of economic and political restructuring, which spans the period of the 1980s through the 2000s, is addressed in the collection.
To a large degree, the selected readings in each section help the reader understand the country's long-standing historical trends – trends that have also changed quite a bit over time, leading to new understandings of Ecuador as a nation and to new notions of citizenship and belonging among diverse groups of Ecuadoreans. In particular, the readings do a good job of portraying the experiences of indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorean communities across the span of centuries of colonial and post-colonial rule. For example, in sections I and II (‘Conquest and Colonial Rule’ and ‘A New Nation’, respectively), there are selections that document the many consequences of colonial rule and ideologies for indigenous communities, including how indigenous people have been historically constructed and governed, through colonialist ideologies, as the ‘miserable Indian race’ (for example, the chapter by Andrés Guerrero); this topic is also addressed in later sections highlighting notions of indigeneity in the twentieth century (selections by Jorge Icaza, Henri Michaux, Carmen Martínez Novo and Norman E. Whitten Jr., among others). Likewise, a number of chapters address processes of creolisation and racialisation, particularly as they have affected the lives and identities of Afro-Ecuadoreans (chapters by Sherwin K. Bryant, Jean Muteba Rahier and Norman E. Whitten Jr.).
Additional topics are addressed throughout the remaining sections, albeit with less depth. Section III, ‘The Rise of the Popular’, addresses Ecuador's shift from an ‘old’ to a ‘new’ political order in the first half of the twentieth century, emphasising the nation's ongoing struggle for cultural and political modernity and the rise of populism. Section IV, ‘Global Currents’, includes a wide range of selections, some of which speak more directly to the section's theme than others. There are texts highlighting global or foreign institutions such as the Catholic Church and the United Fruit Company; a selection highlighting the forced migration of European (in this case, Hungarian) Jews who moved to Ecuador during the Second World War; and selections on Ecuadorean singer Julio Jaramillo, and on the Panama hat, which, contrary to popular belief, has its origins in Ecuador. Section V, ‘Domination and Struggle’, chronicles a few kinds of political struggle that continue to characterise the Ecuadorean political landscape – namely, struggles concerning women's rights, the environment, the global oil industry and Afro-Ecuadorean rights. One highlight is an interview with Nina Pacari, one of Ecuador's most prominent indigenous leaders, who once served as minister of foreign affairs. In section VI, ‘Cultures and Identities Redefined’, there are selections by well-known writers and artists (Javier Vásconez, María Fernanda Espinosa and Iván Oñate), in addition to analyses by and/or about Ecuadoreans who have contributed to the country's arts, media and cultural production.
While clearly a reader of this type cannot cover everything, there are at least two obvious absences in this collection. Firstly, there is unfortunately very little on Ecuador's political economy and cultural production since the 1980s. Given the country's serious bout of financial crises in the 1990s, followed by several changes of government and the redrafting of the constitution in 1998 (and again in 2008), it is a shame that very little of this is addressed in the book. These crises also provided opportunities for social change, including in the redrafting of Ecuador's constitution, which became the first in the region to include an anti-discrimination clause on the basis of sexual orientation. Importantly, this period of crisis led to the shift to the ‘New Left’ in the 2000s, which arguably paved the way for the state to shift away from the hegemonic neoliberal development model and implement its ‘citizen revolution’; all of this, too, is ripe for discussion. Secondly, there is little analysis of gender and sexuality as they relate to the other themes presented in the book. To begin with, there is only one article on women's political participation (by Sarah Radcliffe), despite the fact that there are numerous Ecuadorean feminist scholars who have documented rich histories of women's participation in politics and other areas of public life over the span of centuries. People such as socialist feminist Nela Martinez and indigenous leader Tránsito Amaguaña immediately come to mind, as does Manuela Sáenz, the mistress of revolutionary leader Simón Bolívar and a symbol to some contemporary women's organisations in the country. Sadly, there are no selections on gender and/or women in the volume written by Ecuadorean scholars (there is the one interview with Nina Pacari conducted by Carlos de la Torre) and very little discussion of the role of sexuality in colonial and post-colonial governance. Increasingly, these are considered central issues in Latin American studies; it is a shame that they are not better represented here.
In sum, The Ecuador Reader introduces readers to important debates about colonial and post-colonial Ecuador, particularly through the mid-twentieth century. Importantly, it introduces students and interested readers to key debates on governance, economic change and culture as they have transpired over time in the country, with particularly strong emphases on pre-1980s Ecuador and on indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorean experiences.
