Gentrification and the ethnogenesis of coloniality: their antagonism in interculturality in the City of Cayambe

Abstract

The article examines sociocultural issues in indigenous parishes and communities in Cayambe (Porotog, Cangahua, Pesillo, Olmedo, Juan Montalvo, and La Chimba) caused by gentrification, a process of socio-spatial displacement in which low-income rural areas are restructured with the arrival of higher-income residents or foreigners. This phenomenon, rooted in colonialism and neo-conquest, perpetuates ethnic-racial hierarchies and the exploitation of indigenous peoples. Regressive ethnogenesis renders indigenous existence invisible, replicating patterns of hegemonic cultural control. Through situated ethnography, cultural cartography, life stories, and body biographies, realities of oppression and territorial marginalization are analyzed. Urban renewal geared toward new “whitened” classes (re)produces the culture of dispossession in community spaces, subordinating sociocultural diversities. Ancestral practices characteristic of collective organization, mingas, community meetings, and community gardens,are marginalized, relegating them to social “non-being.” Finally, communities lose their autonomy, traditions, rites, and customs, while regressive ethnogenesis produces epistemic violence, reducing collective activities to social entertainment (folklorization) without recognizing their historical importance.