MODERN TRADITIONS:

THE OTAVALEÑOS OF ECUADOR   (ESPERO TRADUCIRLO MAS ADELANTE AL ESPANOL)

J. Windmeijer

"(...) Otavalo contradicts the steam-roller image of modernization, the assumption that

traditional societies are critically vulnerable to the slightest touch of outside influence and

wholly passive under its impact, devoid of a policy for coping with it beyond a futil initial

resistance" (Salomon, 1973: 464).

Abstract

This working paper focuses the attention on the developments within the weaving industry and trade in

Otavalo, Ecuador. In the late 1960s a strongly-grown population in the Otavalo-region led to increased

pressure on land. Together with some unintended effects of the 1964 land reforms it became more and

more difficult for people to make a living out of agriculture. Alternative sources of income had to be

looked for and were found in the extension of the weaving industry and trade which already had a long

tradition.1

1. Introduction

Since their appearance at the end of the 1980s the Indian music groups have become a familiar sight in

the streets of many Dutch cities. Dressed in a poncho, white trousers, sandals, a hat and their long hair in

a pony-tail these mainly young boys attract the attention of the shopping public. In Holland the music

they play forms a welcome alternative to the street-organ that traditionally occupies the shopping-streets.

Next to playing music these Indian youngsters also sell textile products from the Andes and

music-cassettes and cd's. These music groups come mostly from Ecuador, to be more precise from a

certain region of Ecuador of which the centre is formed by the little town of Otavalo. The Indians2 -or

indígenas- of this region are generally known as the Otavaleños.3