A political ecology of the hacienda system: environmental transformation and everyday lives at Guachalá, Ecuador

This dissertation is an archaeological political ecology of the hacienda system centered on a major textile workshop (obraje) and agropastoral estate called Hacienda Guachalá, in the northern Ecuadorian highland parish of Cangahua, canton of Cayambe. Scholars have long studied the hacienda land tenure system to understand its constitutive role in the political economy of Latin American societies. This dissertation contributes to that literature by bringing into focus the important links between environmental change, shifting ecological relations between human and non-human communities, and the everyday lives, practices and economies of hacienda laborer families. To do so, this research integrates archaeological, archival, and ethnographic methods that situate contemporary agrarian struggles in deeper currents of change since the sixteenth century CE. The dramatic growth of the hacienda and plantation systems was a defining signature of colonial expansion in the Americas. The process transformed physical landscapes and social and labor systems to such a degree that these dynamics characterize a new global epoch, the Anthropocene, which is dominated by those ongoing legacies. The Cayambe region is an informative case for investigation for several reasons. First, the region and its population was dominated by the hacienda system to a greater degree than most of the Andes with almost 80% of its residents ensnared by debt labor by around 1700. Introductions of sheep, cattle, barley and wheat transformed local ecologies and environmental conditions and fundamentally changed life in the area. In the late nineteenth century, eucalyptus trees transformed the region once again, followed by the export flower industry since the 1980s. For roughly five centuries, residents have navigated these ecological changes and socio-historical forces. The interdisciplinary approach of this dissertation seeks to understand how people carry forward these histories in their aspirations for the future. Conducted with the Proyecto Arqueológico Pambamarca, the archaeology of laborer households and work areas from Hacienda Guachalá and archival analyses of documents from the estate provide direct evidence of historical transformations and the everyday lives of residents, especially from contexts dating to the late nineteenth century. Oral history narratives from descendants and ethnographic studies of the surrounding communities connect these histories to the ongoing tensions in agrarian life today. Ultimately, this study highlights enduring forms of displacement and precarity along with compelling stories of resilience that help to understand struggles for environmental justice and sustainable futures at a global scale.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Anthropology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Cossin, Zev Alexander

Contributors dc:contributor

• Fennell, Christopher
• Silverman, Helaine
• Orta, Andrew
• Jacobsen, Nils

• Materiality
• Political Ecology
• Historical Archaeology
• Hacienda System
• Land Tenure
• Obraje
• Anthropocene
• Plantationocene
• Community
• Environmental Justice
• Rural Ecologies
• Food Sovereignty
• Resource Precarity
• Flower Industry
• Agroecology
• Andes
• Ecuador
• Cayambe

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Zev Cossin

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113041

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/113041