So I have finally arrived in Riobamba, the main site of my time here in Ecuador and a chilly city (it´s a national joke to call Riobamba "Friobamba" because "frio" means "cold" in Spànish) due to the winds that blow down from Chimborazo, the highest mountain in the country. The first week in Quito was sort of boring as I was mostly just trying to connect with my host family from last fall and get the information I need for the rest of my trip. It was relaxing though and I got to reacquaint myself with most of the city at a very leisurely pace. After 4 days of phone tag Juan Carlos and I got together on Tuesday and I got all of the contact information I needed. Although a lot has changed in terms of my family and my place here it was nice to catch up with people and hear about what´s happened in the 6 months since I left.
Now I´m in Riobamba where I met today with Manuel Puma Kiru, the director of the university where Juan Carlos teaches. Although he had a ton of information and eventually connected me with a Quechua family Manuel is a rightfully intimidating man. Almost the very first thing he asked me while maintaining complete eye contact was, "So, why are you here? What do you want to know?" Both valid questions but a bit terrifying and surprisingly direct as I stumbled through my startled responses in Spanish. We talked for 3 hours about the state of Ecuador´s indigenous peoples and the role of foreigners, explicitly including anthropologists, in visiting the country. Talking with Manuel was a strong and necessary reminder that his people (or any people for that matter) aren´t tourist attractions or "lab animals," as he put it. He was very direct in saying that I should know exactly what I´m doing here and to remember that doing research or carrying out a study carries with it implicit power dynamics. While I knew this all along, I think I´d sort of talked myself into thinking that my research was worthwhile and that my position in doing the research validated. Especially at my undergraduate level of anthropology where the difference between research and ethno-tourism is minute, I´m going to have to really re-evaluate if and how I can do this research at all. Luckily though, I can do everything I wanted to do originally only as an experiential cultural exchange (which is the project outline in my fellowship anyway).
The moral of the story is that after an hour and a half of Manuelo interviewing me about my intentions in visiting his community he was confident enough to help me out. We´re meeting tomorrow at 10 to meet the family with whom I will be working and living for the next week!
I´ll probably be out of contact for that time (assuming this works out like I´m hoping it will) so I´ll update you all again in a week when I return to Quito and start the week with my mom and sister! I hope everyone´s doing well and I should have plenty to tell in a week´s time. Until then!
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I'm glad you're getting the third degree from a scary Ecuadorian. I arrived in Chengdu and there was no class to teach. My host family was tickled that I actually wanted to, like, volunteer n stuff- with the same people using some kind of structured progression... oh my! Here's to being useful.
-sumo
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