ABSTRACT
Chapter 21 of the Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity proposes an approach to the study of ecocultural identities that is inspired by the Andean metaphysical concept of pacha, or world. Coupled with emerging theoretical trends in the humanistic social sciences, this concept provides a framework for understanding the friction that often develops between Indigenous peoples and state bureaucracies. To illustrate this approach, Quick and Spartz consider a contest of authority that arose in June 2014, when a delegation from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment attempted to enlist Indigenous Kichwa members of the Green Lake Quilotoa Community Tourism Center in the Socio Páramo conservation program. At issue in the conflict were questions of who should have the authority to determine how ecological resources are protected and on what grounds that authority rests. Drawing on extensive ethnographic and oral history data collected in Quilotoa, the authors explore how competing forms of environmental responsibility and ecocultural identity are intimately linked to inherently divergent models of civic participation.
