Remembering the Hacienda: Religion, Authority, and Social Change in Highland Ecuador by Barry J. Lyons

Abstract

In this well-researched book, Barry Lyons provides an account of a former hacienda in highland Ecuador (Monjas Corral, Chimborazo Province). His account mixes solid archival work with more than three years of fieldwork in the area, largely in the early 1990s, when Lyons spoke

Paying for ecological services in Ecuador: The political economy of structural inequality

“…In this case, PSB 'worked' because the opportunity costs of conserving the highland areas were low, which in turn reflected the fact that these were some of the most inhospitable and agriculturally non-viable parts in the Andean region (Bebbington, 1999;Cameron, 2009;Ross et al, 2017). Putting it differently-or more cynically, the state selected communities whose ability to say no was severely constrained by the legacy of unequal land holdings and inequitable agrarian reform (Bretón Solo de Zaldívar, 2012;Goodwin, 2017Goodwin, , 2020Lyons, 2006).…”

“…Recent efforts to incentivize land conservation for carbon sequestration through PSB have therefore occurred in a context of rural dispossession, environmental degradation and climate change. The Indigenous communities that inhabit this part of the Ecuadorian highlands are Kichwa-speaking peoples whose settlements date back to the pre-European Inca period (Bretón Solo de Zaldívar, 2008Zaldívar, , 2012Lyons, 2006Lyons, , 2016. During Spanish colonialism, Indigenous labourers were forced to work on haciendas, receiving small parcels of land (huasipungo) that were used for subsistence farming and livestock (Bretón Solo de Zaldívar, 2012; Lyons, 2006Lyons, , 2016Tuaza, 2014).…”

“…The Indigenous communities that inhabit this part of the Ecuadorian highlands are Kichwa-speaking peoples whose settlements date back to the pre-European Inca period (Bretón Solo de Zaldívar, 2008Zaldívar, , 2012Lyons, 2006Lyons, , 2016. During Spanish colonialism, Indigenous labourers were forced to work on haciendas, receiving small parcels of land (huasipungo) that were used for subsistence farming and livestock (Bretón Solo de Zaldívar, 2012; Lyons, 2006Lyons, , 2016Tuaza, 2014). Subsequently, the land reforms of 1964 and 1973 gave former hacienda workers (huasipungeros) small landholdings, but these were often located in upland areas with poor soils, irrigation and access to markets (Bretón Solo de Zaldívar, 2008Zaldívar, , 2012Lyons, 2006Lyons, , 2016Tuaza, 2014Tuaza, , 2018.…”

“…It was founded as a means of advancing various Indigenous interests in opposition to the 'neoliberal model' though 'economic, social and political structural change… rooted in colonial oppression and exploitation', https://pachakutik.org/quienes-somos/ last accessed 7 October 2022 often located in marginal and unproductive areas, thereby reinforcing a vicious cycle of land fragmentation, rural dispossession and chronic poverty (Bretón, 2012;Goodwin, 2017Goodwin, , 2020Lyons, 2006). Although the Ecuadorian government introduced new measures in 2017 to support smallholder farmers (la Gran Minga Agropecuaria), these failed to regulate farm gate prices, making smallholders even more dependent upon large landowners and commercial agribusiness (FIAN, 2020;McBurney et al, 2021).…”

“…the hacienda system) that created different forms of identity and inequality. Through processes of cadastral mapping, land titling, census surveys and public administration, the modern state has created new categories of citizen and subject that on one hand maintain domination and control over Indigenous peoples while on the other providing benevolence, modernization and enlightenment in the form of schools, clinics and other forms of social assistance (Bretón Solo de Zaldívar, 2008, 2012; Lyons, 2006; Tuaza, 2014).…”