CONTACT AND CONFLICT: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF ACCULTURATION, RACISM AND BENEVOLENT ETHNOCIDE ON THE EGALITARIAN COAIQUER INDIANS OF ECUADOR (SOUTH AMERICA, CULTURAL SURVIVAL, POLITICAL, ETHNOLOGY)

This study explores the impact of accelerated culture contact on the Coaiquer Indians of northern Ecuador. Originating in Columbia, Coaiquer migrated to open but isolated territory to escape constant assimilation and encroachment pressures. During the ensuing 50 year "traditional era," they were relatively free of administrative controls but maintained intermittent contact with outsiders. In 1974, Ecuadorian state and church officials "discovered" the Coaiquer and initiated a development and modernization plan aimed at rapid and complete assimilation of the Coaiquer.;The study contends that culture contact and issues of cultural survival are paramount in shaping Coaiquer (tribal) life and culture. The development plan, despite its proponents' claims of humanitarian motivation, is erected on a racist and ethnocentric foundation which is contemptuous of Coaiquer life. The analysis argues that this process of change is "benevolent ethnocide," whereby forced assimilation and acculturation are rationalized as being in the best interests of the Coaiquer but are actually a reformulation of conquest, patronage and imperialism. Proceeding from the underlying assumptions that Indian cultures and peoples are inferior, small-scale cultures must give way inevitably to the advances of modern civilization, and progress, modernization and assimilation are beneficial to tribal peoples, the development plan is ultimately aimed at the subjugation of the Coaiquer.;The data presented on traditional culture shows the centrality of egalitarian relations, individual independence and autonomy, high flexibility, self-sufficiency and pragmatism as compared with data from the post-discovery era in which stratification, dependency and formal institutional controls replace them. Analysis underscores the threats and dangers posed by accelerated contact to the survival of Coaiquer culture. Coaiquer responses to contact, including the use of secrecy and "dissembling" behavior to buffer its effects, demonstrate their capacity to resist domination and outside control even in the absence of formalized institutional structures. However, the impact of the development plan on the Coaiquer is to victimize them by serving the interests of outsiders.;Part I introduces the setting, history and background of Coaiquer life in the framework of culture contact theory. Part II focuses on economic, political and social organization and the egalitarian nature of traditional culture. Part III examines the effects on the Coaiquer and their responses to accelerated contact.