Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses several stories about the Salasacas' tensions with neighboring ethnic groups, as well as the challenges of the fieldwork. It describes the experience with the witch's book, interpreting the witchcraft beliefs as a negative commentary on church and state documentation, with an internal critique of community divisiveness as well. The book reviews Ecuadorian history to identify the specific documentation sources that have most influenced beliefs in the witch's book, as well as the other magical lists. It argues that these beliefs are most inspired by baptism books, birth certificates, and other documents that track personal identity, and spells out more explicitly the theoretical importance of this argument. The book considers the possibility that the own writing—a weaving pamphlet for tourists and this book—could reproduce power inequalities by defining Salasaca cultural identity.