Identidades fronterizas: intersticios y pluralidades en la construcción identitaria de las comunas étnicas de Manglaralto, Ecuador

Abstract

This article demonstrates that the social categories of indigenous and white-mestizo are essentialist, reductionist, and therefore insufficient to encompass the diverse expressions of identity that exist. Understood through fluid and interchangeable lines, a new category is proposed: the border identity. Exemplified through the ethnic communes of the parish of Manglaralto, in the province of Santa Elena, Ecuador, this new category is intended to reconcile opposites and dismantle existing binaries to better capture the multifaceted social diversity of different sociocultural expressions. Previously agricultural, these communes have been transformed into internationally known tourist destinations, while being denied recognition of their ethnic identity due to the acculturations they have been subject to through various historical periods. Their members are labeled as acculturated indigenous or cholos, too mestizo to be considered indigenous and too indigenous to be considered mestizo. Qualitative methods such as participant observations, informal conversations, and semi-structured interviews were used for the ethnographic work spanning more than four years. The data collected and analyzed data showed how these communities, through constant negotiation with the white-mestizo world, achieve autonomy even within deeply dependent relationships. The study illustrates how they operate from an interstice, an intermediate space, which complicates their placement within existing social categories, underscoring the need to conceptualize new social categories beyond traditional binaries.

Keywords

• ecuadorian coast
• essentialism
• ethnic communities
• ethnography
• identities
• interstices