ABSTRACT

Through their enthusiastic engagement with the international tourist economy, members of the “Green Lake Quilotoa” community-based tourism center in Quilotoa, Ecuador, have learned to present their culture to visitors according to the genre conventions of folkloric performance. This phenomenon has manifested in the choreographed dances that Quilotoan youths perform during special events as well as in the colorfully baroque style of painting that artists in Quilotoa and nearby Tigua have developed over the past two generations. These folkloric representations of culture satisfy the touristic demand for easily digestible morsels of indigenous culture, but they also provide Quilotoans with opportunities to reflect critically on indigenous culture and community.