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The conceptual point of departure of this dissertation is that indigenous women have become politicized and self-reflexive about the discrimination they face, both as a result of their involvement in the wider political awakening of indigenous people as well as because of the exchanges they have had and continue to have with political allies such as NGOs, left parties, and churches in pursuing local development.
One of our members, Dolores Figueroa, recently defended her doctoral dissertation in Sociology at York University, Toronto. Dolores' doctoral dissertation is titled: Comparative Analysis of Indigenous Women’s Participation in Ethno-politics and Community Development: The Experiences of Women Leaders of ECUARUNARI (Ecuador) and YATAMA (Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua).
Dolores' dissertation examines the emergence of indigenous women as new socio-political actors, and the ways in which they have been able to challenge various forms of social and ethnic discrimination. The study develops a comparative analysis between Kichwa women of ECUARUNARI (the Ecuadorian Confederation of the Kichwa Peoples) in Ecuador, and Miskitu women members of YATAMA (the Organization of the Peoples of the Mother Earth) in Nicaragua. Below we provide the thesis' abstract.
Dolores has worked in Nicaragua as a full-time professor as well as the Coordinator of the Sociology Department at URACCAN where she taught undergraduate students who came from a variety of indigenous/ethno-cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Since 2009, Dolores has actively participated as an instructor in the “Diploma for the Strengthening of Women’s Leadership” offered by the Indigenous Intercultural University (UII) to Indigenous women leaders from various Latin American countries. She has taught online courses on Epistemology, Qualitative Methodologies, and Gender Perspectives.
Abstract
Over the last two decades indigenous peoples in the Latin American region have been struggling for state recognition of cultural difference and for the granting of collective rights. This dissertation explores the activism of indigenous women and their participation within indigenous socio-political organizations. More particularly, my thesis develops a comparative analysis aimed at exploring how Kichwa women of ECUARUNARI (the Ecuadorian Confederation of the Kichwa Peoples) in Ecuador, and Miskitu women members of YATAMA (the Organization of the Peoples of the Mother Earth) in Nicaragua have participated in political spaces within their organizations. The study also examines the factors that explain the emergence of indigenous women as new socio-political actors, and the way they have been able to challenge various forms of social and ethnic discrimination.
One of our members, Dolores Figueroa, recently defended her doctoral dissertation in Sociology at York University, Toronto. Dolores' doctoral dissertation is titled: Comparative Analysis of Indigenous Women’s Participation in Ethno-politics and Community Development: The Experiences of Women Leaders of ECUARUNARI (Ecuador) and YATAMA (Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua).
Dolores' dissertation examines the emergence of indigenous women as new socio-political actors, and the ways in which they have been able to challenge various forms of social and ethnic discrimination. The study develops a comparative analysis between Kichwa women of ECUARUNARI (the Ecuadorian Confederation of the Kichwa Peoples) in Ecuador, and Miskitu women members of YATAMA (the Organization of the Peoples of the Mother Earth) in Nicaragua. Below we provide the thesis' abstract.
Dolores has worked in Nicaragua as a full-time professor as well as the Coordinator of the Sociology Department at URACCAN where she taught undergraduate students who came from a variety of indigenous/ethno-cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Since 2009, Dolores has actively participated as an instructor in the “Diploma for the Strengthening of Women’s Leadership” offered by the Indigenous Intercultural University (UII) to Indigenous women leaders from various Latin American countries. She has taught online courses on Epistemology, Qualitative Methodologies, and Gender Perspectives.
Abstract
Over the last two decades indigenous peoples in the Latin American region have been struggling for state recognition of cultural difference and for the granting of collective rights. This dissertation explores the activism of indigenous women and their participation within indigenous socio-political organizations. More particularly, my thesis develops a comparative analysis aimed at exploring how Kichwa women of ECUARUNARI (the Ecuadorian Confederation of the Kichwa Peoples) in Ecuador, and Miskitu women members of YATAMA (the Organization of the Peoples of the Mother Earth) in Nicaragua have participated in political spaces within their organizations. The study also examines the factors that explain the emergence of indigenous women as new socio-political actors, and the way they have been able to challenge various forms of social and ethnic discrimination.
The two cases show that indigenous women have indeed contributed in different ways to the political gains achieved by their respective indigenous organizations in recent decades. Nevertheless, it is also the case that indigenous women’s participation in these struggles has not been properly recognized by their male companions as central to the advancement of the indigenous peoples’ political project. Taking these tensions into account, the dissertation problematizes the particular political location of Ecuadorian Kichwa and Nicaraguan Miskitu women, and tries to contribute to a better understanding of the limitations they have to face in order to press for the advancement of gender-oriented goals within the larger indigenous peoples’ agenda. One particular area of concern is how indigenous women must simultaneously challenge the essentialist identity politics embraced by indigenous organizations and look for the means to create spaces for women’s empowerment at different levels of political representation and social organizing.
The conceptual point of departure of this dissertation is that indigenous women have become politicized and self-reflexive about the discrimination they face, both as a result of their involvement in the wider political awakening of indigenous people as well as because of the exchanges they have had and continue to have with political allies such as NGOs, left parties, and churches in pursuing local development. In highlighting indigenous women’s agency as a social and historical construction, I describe the organized actions of indigenous female leaders as a contingent result of a mixture of socio-economic relations, historical determinations, special articulations of discourses, and the willpower of individuals who have become united as a distinct social force.
identify indigenous women’s struggles as occurring within a highly complex location that entails two main aims. First, is the pursuit of the well-being of the indigenous community as a whole. Second, is the attempt of indigenous women to change many of the harmful practices that are exerted against them and that hinder them from enjoying social recognition, social justice, and a life free of violence. This particular location greatly determines indigenous women’s actions as well as their political alignments toward male companions and non-indigenous feminists. The outcomes of indigenous women’s actions are seen to range betweenconflict and change, on the one hand, and negotiation and strategic maneuvering on the other.
Overall, this study shows comparatively Kiwcha and Miskitu women’s activisms as the result of contrasting political processes of articulation. It does so in correspondence to very distinct social and national contexts. Finally, this work opens a reflexive and critical understanding of the discursive resources and practical actions that indigenous women deploy in order to legitimize their presence in formal political spaces and governing structures; and in doing so, it demonstrates the ambiguities and changes that simultaneously characterize the gender norms of indigenous peoples’ organizations, and the indigenous women’s experiences in politics at local and global levels.
The conceptual point of departure of this dissertation is that indigenous women have become politicized and self-reflexive about the discrimination they face, both as a result of their involvement in the wider political awakening of indigenous people as well as because of the exchanges they have had and continue to have with political allies such as NGOs, left parties, and churches in pursuing local development. In highlighting indigenous women’s agency as a social and historical construction, I describe the organized actions of indigenous female leaders as a contingent result of a mixture of socio-economic relations, historical determinations, special articulations of discourses, and the willpower of individuals who have become united as a distinct social force.
identify indigenous women’s struggles as occurring within a highly complex location that entails two main aims. First, is the pursuit of the well-being of the indigenous community as a whole. Second, is the attempt of indigenous women to change many of the harmful practices that are exerted against them and that hinder them from enjoying social recognition, social justice, and a life free of violence. This particular location greatly determines indigenous women’s actions as well as their political alignments toward male companions and non-indigenous feminists. The outcomes of indigenous women’s actions are seen to range betweenconflict and change, on the one hand, and negotiation and strategic maneuvering on the other.
Overall, this study shows comparatively Kiwcha and Miskitu women’s activisms as the result of contrasting political processes of articulation. It does so in correspondence to very distinct social and national contexts. Finally, this work opens a reflexive and critical understanding of the discursive resources and practical actions that indigenous women deploy in order to legitimize their presence in formal political spaces and governing structures; and in doing so, it demonstrates the ambiguities and changes that simultaneously characterize the gender norms of indigenous peoples’ organizations, and the indigenous women’s experiences in politics at local and global levels.