El Dios en la maleta. Análisis antropológico de las representaciones y prácticas religiosas de los ecuatorianos migrados a Bercelona y Nueva York

Nuestra investigación pretende abordar el estudio de la identidad católica ecuatoriana y su vivencia entre los migrantes residentes en Barcelona y New York. Cuando hablamos de identidad católica, pensamos en un determinado hábitat de sentido (Hannerz) o sistema cultural (Geertz) que satisface la sed de sentido de sus seguidores proveyéndoles de una determinada cosmovisión que éstos perciben como “emocionalmente convincente” (Geertz). A través de nuestra etnografía multisituada, desarrollada en Barcelona (6 meses), New York (6 meses) y Ecuador (3 meses), intentamos definir el tipo de influencia de este referente identitario en la manera de significar la realidad y de actuar de sus portadores, ante la experiencia de la movilidad y del encuentro con la alteridad. Para definir correctamente el influjo de este universo significativo en la experiencia migratoria vamos, paralelamente, a tratar de interpretar su “estructura significativa” (Geertz). En particular, reanudando los estudios propios de la Antropología de las Religiones (y el enfoque geertziano en la dimensión cultural de la religión), analizaremos sus creencias (sus mitos) y sus prácticas (los rituales); interpretándolos simbólicamente y analizando los efectos que estos dos diferentes niveles expresivos del universo católico (ecuatoriano) derraman tanto en la dimensión íntima del creyente, como en la social.

Sumak Kawsay, or the concept of living well, and perceptions about natural, urban and rural areas: the case of Cuenca (Ecuador)

This research explores critical environmental concepts from the standpoint of political ecology. It contrasts the Ecuadorian Kichua indigenous concept of Sumak Kawsay (i.e., living well), with discourses about natural, urban and rural areas. Sumak Kawsay was included in Ecuador’s 2008 constitution as an alternative to the neoclassical idea of development. This work reveals interesting insights from a variety of social and political viewpoints from both rural and urban areas. The research is based on the medium sized city of Cuenca, which is located in the southern Ecuadorian Andes. We used an adaptation of the Q Method to investigate stakeholders’ perceptions. Four remarkably well-defined viewpoints were revealed. Although these views contrast strongly with Sumak Kawsay, it is possible to transform this paradigm in the foundation of Cuenca’s public policies and institutional structure.

Fiscal sustainability and fiscal shocks in a dollarized and oil-exporting country: Ecuador

This paper investigates the fiscal sustainability of an emerging, dollarized, oil-exporting country: Ecuador. A cointegrated VAR approach is adopted in testing, first, if the intertemporal budget constraint is satisfied in Ecuador and, second, in identifying the permanent and transitory shocks that affect a fiscal policy characterized by inertia and a heavy dependence on oil revenues. Following confirmation that the debt-GDP ratio does not place the Ecuadorian budget under any pressure, we reformulate the model and identify two forces that push the fiscal system out of equilibrium, namely, economic activity and oil revenues implemented in the government budget. We argue that Ecuador needs to recover control of its monetary policy and to promote the diversification of its economy in order that non-oil tax revenues can replace oil revenues as a pushing force. Finally, we calculate quarterly elasticities of tax revenues with respect to Ecuador’s GDP and that of eight Eurozone countries. We illustrate graphically how the Eurozone countries with low positive or high negative elasticities’ levels suffer debt problems after the crisis. This finding emphasizes the pressing need for Ecuador to strengthen the connection between its tax revenues and output, and also suggests that the convergence of these elasticities in the Eurozone might contribute to the success of an eventually future fiscal union.