INNOVA Research Journal, ISSN 2477-9024  
Octubre, 2017). Vol. 2, No.10 pp. 194-199  
(
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33890/innova.v2.n10.2017.535  
URL: http://revistas.uide.edu.ec/index.php/innova/index  
Correo: innova@uide.edu.ec  
Problemas raciales en Ecuador  
Racial problems in Ecuador  
Andrés Chávez  
Universidad Internacional del Ecuador, Ecuador  
Juan Emilio Balas León  
Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Ecuador  
Autor para correspondencia: anchavezer@uide.edu.ec, jbalas@ups.edu.ec  
Fecha de recepción: 02 de Julio de 2017 - Fecha de aceptación: 10 de Septiembre de 2017  
Resumen  
Ecuador es un a pesar de ser un país pequeño es un país lleno de diversidad, donde existen todos  
los colores de piel. El Ecuador está dividido en diferentes regiones y en cada uno se encontraran  
culturas diferentes, comida diferente y acentos diferentes; creando como resultado grandes  
contraste de una región a otra lo cual ha sido una razón para que se cree ideales raciales. Este  
artículo estudia algunas de las razones del racismo en el Ecuador tales como falta de conciencia, y  
división regional como problemas culturales.  
Palabras claves: racismo; problema cultural; ecuador; diversidad  
Abstract  
Ecuador is a country that in spite of being a small country, it is a country full of diversity, where  
all skin colors exist. Ecuador is divided into different regions and in each one you will find different  
cultures, different foods and different accents; creating as a result great contrast from one region  
to another which has been a reason for creating racial ideals. This article studies some of the  
reasons for racism in Ecuador such as lack of awareness, and regional division as cultural  
problems.  
Key words: racism; cultural issue; ecuador; diversity  
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Introduction  
Ecuador is home to people of every skin color that can be found in the world. Despite this  
racial diversity, racism is a prevalent problem in the country. This problem is so deeply rooted in  
society that many Ecuadorians are unaware of it. The purpose of this paper is to explain the  
reasons that racism is still present in Ecuador, to show that there is a lack of awareness about this  
issue, and to demonstrate how different regions are dividing the country into separate races.  
Basic Definition  
In order to analyze the problem of racism in Ecuador, it is important to understand the  
meaning of racism, both historically and at the present time. In “The End of Racism” Souza  
explains the concept that the Europeans had of the meaning of black before they had any  
interaction with the Africans. At this time the Oxford English Dictionary defined blackness as  
“deeply stained with dirt, soiled, dirty, foul, malignant, deadly, baneful, disastrous, sinister,  
iniquitous, atrocious, horrible and wicked” (Souza 1996, 60). Even though hundreds of years  
have passed since this definition was widely accepted in Europe, the idea that people with black  
skin embody the aforementioned characteristics lives on in the minds of many Ecuadorians.  
The current definition of racism, according to the Webster’s New World Dictionary, is a  
“doctrine or teaching… that claims to find racial differences in character and intelligence, that  
asserts the superiority of one race over another, that seeks to maintain the supposed purity of a  
race” (Souza 1996, 8).  
Reasons for Racism in Ecuador  
Out of all of these ethnic groups in Ecuador, whites and mestizos are seen as the preferred  
and dominant races. According to the CIA facts, 65% of the population is Mestizo, 25% are  
Indian, 7% are European, and 3% are Black. However, for many years the Whites and Mestizos  
have oppressed the Blacks and Indians. According to De la Torre, “the discriminatory actions of  
white and mestizo Ecuadoreans clearly illustrate how they have constructed their racial selves.  
Given that only a few Ecuadoreans can be certain of their European descent, each act of  
aggression against the Indian and black ‘Other’ is a form of denial and hatred of the mestizo  
self” (De la Torre 1999, 93).  
There has never been a segregation law in Ecuador, but “because Indians are seen as  
‘inferior’, they have to go to the back of the bus in order not to inconvenience their white and  
mestizo ‘superiors’” (Bourdieu 1977, 20). Racist thoughts and attitudes are reinforced through  
actions such as this, which make these experiences seem so common and natural that  
Ecuadorians do not recognize them as products of racism. Bourdieu continues by saying that “the  
dominant and the sub-altern sectors have been habituated in the use of racially structured spaces,  
so much so that they reproduce existing racial structures almost subconsciously in their day-to-  
day interactions” (Bourdieu 1977, 20).  
A significant racial issue in Ecuador society is the desire to become whiter or to improve  
the race. De la Torre explains that one of the main concerns for a family when a baby is born is  
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what his or her skin color will be. “An interviewee recounts that when he went to visit the light-  
skinned baby of a cousin married to a mestizo, one of his political relatives commented: ‘It is  
great, the race has been improved’” (De la Torre 1999, 107). This is not only an issue for the  
Indian and Black population. The general consensus in Ecuador is that “the Indian wants to be a  
mestizo, the mestizo wishes to be white, and the white yearns to be a gringo” (De la Torre 1999,  
1
08). There is a social issue in the minds of Ecuadorians in which each person desires to be at  
least a little bit whiter.  
Lack of awareness  
In the country’s early years, the Ecuadorian government decided to impose a mestizo  
ideology, with the motto of “Todos somos mestizos.” Since 1930 and especially in the  
government of Guillermo Rodríguez Lara the ideology that “we all are mestizo” was imposed in  
the country. During the national census at this time, no questions were asked about racial or  
ethnic identity. It was not until the 2001 census that questions regarding racial and ethnicity  
background were incorporated into the census (Beck 2011, 108). These many years of ideology  
of “we all are mestizo” has caused a lack of awareness of these real issues even though in the  
mind of each Ecuadorian they have always known that they existed.  
A study showed that in "countries like Mexico, Colombia or Ecuador, mixed-raceidentity  
has become normative because of early 20th century elite-led national ideologies of mestizaje  
that sought to homogenize the population as mestizo and proclaim themthe nation’s essence"  
(Knight, 1990; Stutzman, 1981; Wade, 1993).  
One of the reasons that racism still affects Ecuador is due to a lack of awareness of the  
problem. Table 2 shows Beck’s research, which indicates that 49.6% of the 8,682 people  
included in his study did not know what racism was, and an even lower percentage knew the  
meanings of discrimination and prejudice (Beck 2011). A lack of awareness of the problem in  
the country has led to a lack of discussion about it, which is the cause for these low numbers.  
This general ignorance about these concepts is a major stumbling block to eradicating the  
problem in the country.  
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Source Beck p. 115  
Regional division  
This racial problem has become a cause of division in the country. De la Torre mentions  
that “whites and mestizos avoid contact with Indians because they are afraid of their ‘bad odor’”  
(De la Torre 1999, 100). This also applies to the Black population.  
The mestizo population is located all around the country, with a big population in  
Guayaquil. Even though they comprise the largest ethnic group in Ecuador, they often report  
having the feeling of not belonging “De la Torre 1999).  
The black population is mainly located in the north coast of Ecuador in a province call  
Esmeralda and in the Valle del Chota. Beck shows that “There may be real cultural differences  
between, say, Afro-Ecuadorians who live in rural areas of the province of Esmeraldas and those  
in major cities such as Quito or Guayaquil. But despite any differences, Afro-Ecuadorians are  
aware that they are treated differently because of what they and others understand as race” (Beck  
2
011, 121).  
Meanwhile the Indians are located in the Highlands Provinces such as Quito and in the  
Amazon. Indians in these regions are often addressed with the paternalistic terms of hijito(little  
son) and hijita (little daughter). These terms “transform adults into children who needed the  
protection and care of the patriarchal authority” of their fair-skinned counterparts (De la Torre  
1
999, 101).  
Social Problems  
Some studies has shown that problem with color can affect a person ability to find a job.  
People follow stereotypes especially for person with darker skin. (Gil-White, 1999; Gravlee,  
005).  
2
It also creates a different behavior base on the color of the skin or creating a hierarchy in  
which white people is at the top (Maddox, 2004; Telles, 2004). In many ocations a person can  
move in this hierarchy, or in other words can become whiter.  
Tellesa, Floresb, & Urrea-Giraldo explain that "some-times shapes ethnoracial  
identification as in “moneywhitening,” where upward mobility may provoke re-classification  
into whiter categories, potentially affecting estimates of ethnoracial inequality" (2005 p. 42).  
Weber (2017) been show "that “race” and racism, which facilitates the generation of  
categories of worker for particular occupations, reproduces cultural “distinctions” and divisions  
among labouring classes and “justifies” unequal economic rewards" (p. 290).  
Conclusion  
Racism is a big issue in Ecuadorian society. Unfortunately, until it is recognized as an  
issue, little can be done to change the way that people of each ethnic groups see and treat each  
other and themselves. This racism has so deeply permeated society that it unofficially dictates  
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where people can live, and those with darker skin who stray outside of these regions face even  
more prejudice. The first step to addressing this problem is to educate people of all ethnic groups  
about racism and its consequences, and then to take action to erase these divisions between the  
regions so that any person of any skin color can feel comfortable and have the opportunity to  
succeed in any city or province in the country.  
In order to improve as persons, and as a nation we need to understand that we are  
different, accept diversity and embrace "the other". Indigenous and dark-skinned color people  
suffer more discrimination that others. It is time to shine a light into this issue thus we can open  
our eyes to reality.  
Bibliography  
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