{"id":880,"date":"2016-07-13T16:52:33","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T15:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimission.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=880"},"modified":"2016-07-13T16:58:24","modified_gmt":"2016-07-13T15:58:24","slug":"ecuador-sumak-kawsay-as-a-way-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2016\/07\/13\/ecuador-sumak-kawsay-as-a-way-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecuador:\u00a0Sumak Kawsay\u00a0as a Way of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

The indigenous concept of ‘good living’ can be adapted to Western culture.<\/em><\/p>\n

Understanding the indigenous worldview involves questioning how we are traditionally taught to face life. For example, knowing how to distinguish between ‘living better’, the basis of Western development, and ‘good living’, or sumak kawsay<\/em> in Kichwa.<\/p>\n

‘Living better’ is a Western model that implies progress and amassing wealth. This varies with a group\u2019s socio-economic status. For the poor, it means accessing a better quality of life \u2013\u00a0a just goal. However, for the elite, living better means getting more goods and power, while the middle class strives to reach the elite\u2019s standard of living.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, good living [Sumak Kawsay, <\/em>or Sumaq Qama\u00f1a<\/em> in Aymara<\/em>] in the indigenous world \u201centails an ethical, restrained way of living. It takes from nature only what is necessary for life, without endangering [nature\u2019s] rights, since nature is considered a living Mother,\u201d<\/em> according to Ger\u00f3nimo Yantalema, a member of Ecuador\u2019s National Assembly.<\/p>\n

Indeed, while harmony between the laws of nature and collective rights can satisfy individual rights, individual rights with their particularities do not guarantee the existence of collective rights \u2013 nor of the laws of nature.<\/p>\n

Several examples of good living practices have been implemented for decades in Ecuador, including\u00a0in Salinas, a desert town in the Bolivar province in Ecuador\u2019s central highlands.<\/p>\n

In the 1970s, Salinas\u00a0was one of hundreds of extremely poor indigenous communities. Four decades later, Salinas is thriving with\u00a0community businesses run under a common brand: ‘El Salinerito’.<\/em><\/p>\n

It started with a small-scale dairy production in the rectory and a booth at the market in the country\u2019s capital, Quito. The idea was to produce communally, linking the factory with small indigenous and campesino<\/em> milk producers. Early on, there was some support from international co-operation organisations; today, there are 22 partners in the cheese production co-operative.<\/p>\n

‘El Salinerito’<\/em>\u00a0is not only a true business consortium that produces, for example: milk, pizza, wild mushrooms, chocolates, sweets, textiles, and handicrafts. It has a small sugar mill and fish-farming activities. It also markets other agricultural produce and has established a network of solidarity economies encouraging new projects, training other communities, and taking part in financial consortiums and marketing networks.<\/p>\n

Revenues are reinvested in new social projects that benefit the entire community. \u201cThe whole town of El Salinerito shares the production, marketing, and benefits. We started this before good living became famous, and we can say that we are practising good living now,\u201d<\/em> one of the founders and current administrator, Alonso Vargas, said.<\/p>\n

In the central province of Cotopaxi there is another village, Tigua,<\/em>\u00a0which\u00a0like Salinas encourages community production, but based on indigenous art and culture.<\/p>\n

Siza Toaquiza, a young painter and popular singer who belongs to the third generation of ‘Tigua painters’, said: \u201cMy father, my grandfather, and my great-grandparents painted on sheepskin, as our ancestors did. They painted the history and traditions of the communities of Tigua. When they began to sell, all the communities began to sell as well, and now our art is known worldwide”.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tigua is another example of communal production and closeness to mother earth. The art\u2019s international success has not changed its traditions. On the contrary, it has prevented\u00a0new generations of indigenous people from emigrating, and highlights the opportunities community living provides.<\/p>\n

Siza Toaquiza, a\u00a019-year-old leading figure in indigenous popular music, said: \u201cMy father, Alfredo Toaquiza, is an internationally famous indigenous painter. He is president of the Tigua Society of Artists, but still lives in town because he also works in agriculture. We produce our own food, both for the family and the community. That\u2019s good living: taking advantage of everything the land gives us, but not letting that change who we are”.<\/em><\/p>\n

Applying this indigenous worldview in the Western world would give primacy to the collective and solve some problems that are a result of the Western development model, such as transport.<\/p>\n

Prioritising public transport and limiting the production of private cars would reduce pollution, save natural resources, redefine the car industry, and reconfigure road plans. It would help level the balance of payments between wealthy countries and developing ones, freeing up funds for investments in health and education. It would reduce noise, making cities more inviting.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the communal structure that has allowed indigenous peoples to survive can be applied to the design of community neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

According to Javier Alvarado, head of the National Confederation of Ecuadorian Neighbourhoods (CONBADE), \u201cgovernment programmes should look at the neighbourhoods\u2019 abilities to provide goods, like food and clothing for nearby schools, to manage resources such as water, and to implement community market systems\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

CONBADE has a national proposal to create community governments in urban slums, which would encourage investment in social programmes through coordination between local officials and neighbourhood representatives.<\/p>\n

Linking technological development to benefit the human being will prevent accumulating power and capital based on knowledge appropriation and hijacking.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowledge is collective and access to it is free. The idea of patent registration is alien to the indigenous world, since it involves taking something that belongs to the group,\u201d<\/em> Assemblyman Yantalema said.<\/p>\n

These and other practical applications to life in our society involve a different mindset, because Sumak Kauwsay,<\/em>\u00a0rather than an economic model, is a cultural transformation. It means rethinking survival and once again embracing the communal model as a life principle.<\/p>\n

By Luis \u00c1ngel Saavedra<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The indigenous concept of ‘good living’ can be adapted to Western culture. Understanding the indigenous worldview involves questioning how we are traditionally taught to face life. For example, knowing how to distinguish between ‘living better’, the basis of Western development, and ‘good living’, or sumak kawsay in Kichwa. ‘Living better’ is a Western model that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}