Longos’ and ‘Cholos’: ethnic/‘racial’ discrimination among mestizos in Ecuador

The processes of ethnic/‘racial’ discrimination taking

place in Ecuador which have thus far remained hidden from research and policy

making by representations of Ecuador as a homogenously mixed or ‘mestizo’ state.

To uncover these processes, those generally identified as

Ecuadorian upper-class ‘white-mestizos’ in Ecuador’s two main cities, Guayaquil and

Quito, represent their ethnic identity and that of others in relation to the state’s

hegemonic discourse of mestizaje or ‘mixture’. By looking at the terminology used to

refer to certain mestizos, i.e. ‘longo’ and ‘cholo’, the upperclasses’

use of mestizaje hides discriminatory practices that inhibit the creation of

socio-economic networks among mestizos and, therefore, render the returns from

education for certain individuals limited, also checking their opportunities in the

labour market and impeding their social mobility. The state’s promises of social

inclusion and advancement through mestizaje are, therefore, rendered empty.

The Ecuadorian Republic has been historically constructed and represented as a

mestizo or ‘mixed’ state (Clark 1998, Martinez-Echazabal 1998), a construction that

has tacitly rejected Ecuador's indigenous (Muratorio 2000) and Afroecuadorian

heritage (Rahier 1999), advocating acculturation as a means for integration

(Stutzman 1981). The results of the 2001 national census appear to confirm the

success of this ‘mestizo paradigm’, showing that more than three-quarters of the

Ecuadorian population identifies itself as ‘mestizo’ or ‘mixed’ ethnicity/race.