A book on Intangible Cultural Heritage

Quito, martes 27 octubre 2020
The book:
The book: "Patrimonio Inmaterial en el Ecuador. Una construcción colectiva"

 

Our branch campus in Quito presented the book "Patrimonio Inmaterial en el Ecuador. Una construcción colectiva", written by professors, public workers and citizens; they write about traditions that are being affected by other cultures.

The writers are Patricio Guerrero, Marco Rubio, Diego Velasco, César Lutuala, Germania Anguieta, Salomón Acosta, José Chalá, José Juncosa, Fernando Rosero, Gabriela López, Isabel Rohn, Victoria Zambonino, María Gabriela Guevara, Mario Ojeda, Raúl Peñafiel, Victoria Rodríguez, Juan Uvilla, Freddy Simbaña, María Fernanda Tanai, Iris Pico and Eloísa Carbonell. 

Fernando Pesantez, general vice president of UPS, welcomed everyone who atended the presentation and congratulated the writers. "For the university and the Abya Yala publishing house, the book is a sign of joint work which demonstrates what professors and students are capable of doing."

Maria Sol Villagomez, vice president of our branch campus in Quito, encouraged the writers to continue conducting research and writing. Ruben Bravo, director of the anthropology undergraduate program, stated that heritage has always been discussed, "We seek to overcome the conception of heritage as an object and consider it a subject, made up of men and women who from their communities create and recreate meanings from the depth of their history and memory."

Eloísa Carbonell, professor and coordinator of the book, said that the book is made from individual and collective efforts for the revitalization of intangible heritage that started in classrooms due to the interest in knowing about heritage. "One of the main reasons was the scarce literature on the subject; we set out to present this social construction of meanings transmitted from generation to generation in rural and urban settings."

The comments were made by Daniela Cevallos, a UPS graduate of anthropologist; Dora Arízaga, former director of the Metropolitan Institute of Heritage and specialist professor in Heritage and Culture and Santiago Cabrera, professor in the area of History at Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar and specialist in Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Cevallos stated that this project allowed us to create a path where initiatives, proposals and expectations of cultural managers come together to promote cultural and political forms that strengthen people's social and existential senses through their heritage, which is testimony to their cultural and historical diversity.

Santiago Cabrera stated that the book presents practices and uses that are at risk of disappearing or being altered by social interventions. Arízaga indicated that the book invites people to overcome weaknesses: evaluation of public policies, impacts generated in communities by policies; generate result and impact indicators; strengthen the processes of participation and empowerment of local capacities through education, training and continuous training.