Uncovering the Legacy of the Colonial Hacienda System in Mascarilla, Ecuador
Our latest project explores the enduring impacts of the colonial hacienda system on the community of Mascarilla in northern Ecuador’s Chota Valley. Situated in the Ancestral Territory of the Chota Valley’s Afro-Ecuadorian population, this collaborative research initiative examines panela (unrefined cane sugar) production in Mascarilla in the early 20th century.
A focal point is an archaeological study of a former sugar cane mill, seeking to elucidate its history within the exploitative huasipungo (debt-peonage) system. Through participatory mapping, oral history gathering, and archival research, we aim to construct a multifaceted narrative around this mill in dialogue with Mascarilla residents and other stakeholders.
This project illuminates the complex dialectics of coercion and resistance that shaped life and labor under hacienda rule. It also traces the legacies of the plantation economy in today’s communal memory and spatial practices. This counter-mapping research of Mascarilla’s sugar mill will bring marginalized stories to light and foster collective reflection on the past’s imprint on the present.
Stay tuned as this research unfolds! We look forward to sharing updates and findings that advance our understanding of hacienda impacts in Mascarilla, which could potentially have broader implications for Ecuador and Latin America.
This research is part of the collaborative, interdisciplinary, and anti-racist agenda of the project “Sites of Afro-Ecuadorian Memory in the Ancestral Territory of the Chota-La Concepción-Salinas and Guallupe Valley: Territory, Culture and Heritage,” a partnership between the Center for African and Afro-American Studies at the Amawtay Wasi University (Quito-Ecuador); Latin American Historical Archaeology Lab (LAHAL) at the Department of Anthropology, UMass Boston; and two grassroots organizations CONAMUNE-Carchi (National Coordinating Committee of Black Women), and FECONIC (Federation of Black Communities and Organizations of Imbabura and Carchi). This trapiche has been chosen as one of the representative sites of the Afro-Ecuadorian Heritage in the Valley and is part of a revitalization process led by Afro-Ecuadorian women of the GAEN association, local heritage protectors, and advocates of the Mascarilla community.
