CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | Mendoza Acero, Montserrat Olivier |
|---|---|
| Title | The "Frontline Community" of the Waorani Women of the Ecuadorian Amazon |
| Summary | The Ecuadorian Amazon, one of the world’s most biodiverse and culturally rich regions in the world, has been consumed by extractive institutions in the name of development and modernity. This region is also the ancestral home of the Waorani, an indigenous nationality of semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers in total isolation until the mid-twentieth century. Since their encounter with the West, their livelihood has changed drastically while their natural ecosystem has been commodified. In 2005 the Waorani women created the AMWAE to lead an Environmental Justice movement that demands recognition and preservation of their knowledge, cosmology, and livelihoods. This research contributes to the Environmental Justice literature by analyzing with a decolonial lens how Waorani women develop an alternative economy based on pluriversal principles, Buen Vivir, and ecofeminism. This research was conducted with a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews, participative observation, and data coding. Through the categories of survivability, traditions, knowledge, and recognition, I explore how the AMWAE is navigating the market economy without reproducing the domination discourse that oppresses indigenous women, nature, and ancestral cosmology in the name of maldevelopment, therefore, successfully creating a “post- economy”. |
| Supervisor | Steger, Tamara |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/mendoza_montserrat.pdf |
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