South of the Far West: Marginality, Ambivalence and Anachronism in Cultural Classifications from the South-Barbacoan Perspective

Abstract

The South-Barbacoan group, between the Pacific and the Ecuadorian and Colombian Andes, has been placed on the periphery of the «Intermediate Area», alternately overlapping, replacing and bordering a linguistic and cultural grouping formerly known as Chibcha. Firstly, this text analyses the vicissitudes of the group’s erratic positioning in archaeological, linguistic and cultural classifications throughout history. Secondly, it examines and compares historical and ethnographic data on the South-Barbacoan Tsachila (Colorado) and Chachi (Cayapa) societies, focusing in particular on systems of socio-political organisation, shamanism, exchange networks and forms of relationship and identification between humans and non-humans: in other words, data that inform us about both the social dynamics and the ontology. Finally, the article suggests reaching beyond the traditional cultural boundaries in order to understand the indigenous societies of the region.