Píntag Amaru and Living Well: An Exploration of Localized Indigenous Revitalization and Practices with Global Implications
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Date
2024-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
As dominant global systems produce climate and humanitarian crises, there is an urgent need for the implementation of alternatives to capitalism and development models. The practices of Pintag Amaru, an Indigenous organization in the Andean highlands of Ecuador, to revitalize, transmit and live their ancestral values offers important insight into Indigenous understandings of living well and the decolonial concept of Sumak Kawsay. Sumak Kawsay, an alternative way of living that is based in a harmonious relationship to the earth and one’s community, has entered public debate in Ecuador and globally. The concept was enshrined in the Ecuadorian constitution in 2008, however, conflict has arisen between Sumak Kawsay as praxis versus its political and academic co-optation. Appropriation of the concept by non-Indigenous actors exemplifies that Sumak Kawsay must be understood through the realities and struggles of the Indigenous communities from which it emerges. The analysis of Pintag Amaru’s practices and relationship to Sumak Kawsay explores the tensions of the concept and argues for its value as a framework and platform for Indigenous movements to articulate their beliefs, proposals, and ways of living. An examination of Pintag Amaru’s efforts, to cultivate according to ancestral values, utilize bio-construction methods, protect their environment and water, embody communal values through the minga, and engage in decolonial education, offers important insights into living well beyond theory through the actual practices of one localized example with global implications.
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Keywords
Sumak Kawsay, Ecuador, Decolonial, Capitalism, Development, Indigenous