PNC Hosts Colloquium on Ecuadorian Indians

Purdue University North Central will present a Social Sciences Colloquium with Dr. Kenneth Kincaid, assistant professor of History, speaking on "Good Indians, Bad Indians and Wannabe Indians" on Feb. 15 from 1 to 2 p.m. in the Library-Student-Faculty Building Assembly Hall, Room 02. The event is free and open to the public.

Kincaid explains his colloquium topic, "Throughout much of the early 1900s, Ecuadorian elites viewed indigenous peoples as lazy, indolent, superstitious and dirty. The exceptions to these stereotypes were the indigenes of the Otavalo canton, who lived two hours to the north of Quito. They were often celebrated for their physical appearance and their entrepreneurial skills. However, this depiction failed to take into consideration the growing political awareness in the rural areas of Otavalo, where members of the Community Party were working with indigenous leaders to appropriate hacienda lands.

"Unlike the "good" entrepreneurial indigenes, these peasant indigenes were prone to drink, be immature, dirty and easily led astray by outsiders. They embraced collectivism. Ironically, collectivist attitudes began transcending ethnicity and by the late 1930s, rural mestizo communities also began mobilizing in defense of collective land rights."