Permanences and emergencies of good living in local Shuar communities in the Asunción parish-Ecuador

Abstract

In the face of the national debate about the definition and expression of Good Living in Ecuador in the last decade-and-a-half, this case research studied the expression of its concrete practices in indigenous Shuar communities that currently make up Asunción in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The ethnographic work, accompanied by participatory techniques with members of the communities, offers results about the complexity of the current situation of the communities due to the combination and transition of practices that in some cases can be identified as expressions of their Good Living, in combination with others that are a threat to the persistence of these communities. Through an operationalization of the concept of Good Living for communities of the Shuar ethnic group, the paper analyzes especially the presence and perception of their sustainability for them, and to what extent they can be identified as a local alternative to development