The social construction of national identity in highland Ecuador

Abstract

Focuses on the role allocated to indigenous peasants in definitions of "the national' at different points in Ecuadorean history. It is argued that earlier representations of native peoples served as a primitive contrast to the national subject. More recently, however, new constructions of "the national' that draw on symbols of Indianness and the rhetoric of ethnicity have emerged. The paper explores the success of these new national discourses in securing the consent of indigenous peoples. -from Author