Maria Fernanda Solórzano Granada She has a doctorate in Social Sciences with a specialization in Social Anthropology from the Center for Research in Higher Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS-Occidente); Master in Social Sciences with a focus on Sustainable Development from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL); Degree in Social Communication for Development from the Salesian Polytechnic University of Ecuador. He has addressed different social problems associated with indigenous youth identities and politicity and their relationship with the territory, extractivism and developmentalism in Amazonian territories of Ecuador. She has experience in collaborative research work with indigenous girls, boys and young people in the Sierra and Ecuadorian Amazon. She currently works as a specialist technician with the Organization of the Siona Indigenous Nationality of Ecuador (ONISE) for the Update of the Life Plan.

Temáticas

The Ziona of Ecuador, their monetarization process and other future uncertainties: analysis of a collection economy

  • Maria Fernanda Solórzano Granada

Keywords: accumulation, gathering economy, future uncertainties, vital exchanges, Siona nationality, monetarization process.

This article analyzes the monetarization process of the indigenous Sionas of the Ecuadorian Amazon, their gathering economy and their future uncertainties. Through ethnographic work during three years in the Soto Tsiaya community on the Aguarico River, I affirm that the Sionas anticipate their economic future in the very short term because they live a gathering economy that allows them to subsist on a day-to-day basis. In addition, in their territory there are petitions-collections that are part of a historical process of colonial and extractivist monetarization, as well as vital exchanges from the interrelationship between the Zionas and non-humans, that is, their feeling and living in their cosmos where spiritual relationships are reproduced for their subsistence. Beyond a future where economic accumulation is a priority, their future uncertainties reflect concerns about their identity and cultural changes, as well as the importance of safeguarding their territory because it is the manifestation of their being, thought, practices, memory, spiritualities and economy.