Creating the "Model Indian": Representations of Amazonian and Highland Indians in Ecuadorian Nationalist Discourse, 1900–50

This paper compares how Amazonian and Highland indigenous groups were imagined and constructed within competing nationalist discourses in early twentieth century Ecuador. It examines the ideas of different groups of elite ‘image-formers’ – Liberal and Conservative politicians, indigenistas, Catholic and Protestant missionaries, and leftists, assessing how their views of indigenous realities were filtered through political and religious projects.  The paper focuses particularly on the divergent ways Amazonian and Highland Indians were viewed – the former as backwards and problematic “savages” and the latter as redeemable future citizens and constituents. This had profound resonance for indigenous strategies of mobilization and engagement with the state. The paper also underscores the emergence of a consensus that certain indigenous groups were more ‘advanced’ than others, and traces how the Otavalo Indians of the Northern highlands, and the Saraguro Indians of the South became viewed as “model” groups, who represented an ideal for transformation through state intervention.