The Assault on Human Rigths and the Resilience of the Andean Dream: Health Inequities in Ecuador. IV Annual Distinguished Lecture sponsored by the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health; School of Public Health; University of Michigan

The point of departure for these reflections is life, since its protection is the central purpose encouraging the defense of human rights and of public health. Life in the Andes has an exceptional diversity. Particularly in Ecuador, my country, this diversity constitutes a characteristic sign that is expressed in two main forms: natural megadiversity and multiculturalism. Indeed, Ecuador’s small territory synthesizes practically all types of lifezones that exist on Earth, having received the gift of high average rates of solar energy and abundant nutritional sources, which have facilitated the natural reproduction of countless species that show their beautiful vitality in the variety of ecosystems that compose the Andean mountain range, the tropical plains, the Amazon humid forests, and the Galapagos Islands. But besides being a highly biodiverse country, it is also a plurinational and multi-cultural society, in which the activity of human beings, organized into social conglomerates of different historical and cultural backgrounds, have formed more than a dozen nations and peoples. Regrettably this natural and human wealth has not been able to bear its best fruits due to the violent operation of a deep social inequity – unfortunately also one of the highest in the Americas—which conspires against life and is reproduced in national and international inequitable relations. This structural inequity has changed its form throughout the centuries and currently has reached its highest and most perverse level of development.

Cuerpos encerrados cuerpos emancipados: las políticas del cuerpo y las negociaciones identitarias de las travesías en el expenal García Moreno

La identidad sexual y de género como el cuerpo son espacios de poder y diferencia donde se evidencia la precariedad del sistema político económico heterosexual ‘blanco occidental’ y su impositivo sistema de sexo-género. Mediante un trabajo etnográfico la investigación indagó y analizó la situación actual de las travestis encarceladas en el Centro de rehabilitación para Varones Nº 1, vinculándolo con la estructura macro social circundante a la que pertenece y el ex-penal está inserto activamente. El estudio da cuenta de la actualidad enmarcada entre junio 2005 y enero 2007. Hace referencia a hechos sociopolíticos e históricos que visibilizan y evidencian dentro del contexto nacional la situación de la violencia socio cultural, física-psico afectiva, como las circunstancias de marginalización y discriminación que se ejerce sobre las travestis; así como la persistente violación a sus derechos fundamentales como consecuencia de su identidad sexual y de género abyecta; por parte de otros agentes sociales.