Andean Entrepreneurs: Otavalo Merchants and Musicians in the Global Arena

Chapter 1: Introduction: Globalization and Otavalo Life

  Introduction     On October , , a family of indígenas from Ilumán, Ecuador, came into the town of Otavalo in tears, upset by the crash of an El Al Boeing  cargo jet the previous day near Schipol airport in Amsterdam, Holland . Radio and television broadcasts brought the news to Ilumán, and it spread like a flash fire through the town and neighboring communities. The crash also made the front page of newspapers published in Quito and Guayaquil which were sold in Otavalo on October . The death toll among the crew and residents of the Amsterdam neighborhood, most of them immigrants, totaled fifty-nine. The reason Otavalo indígenas (the self-referential term for indigenous people) were affected so deeply by an event that took place halfway around the world is at the heart of this book, which examines how the Otavalos, an ethnic group located in a high, verdant Andean valley, cope with globalization, including extensive tourism to Otavalo and transnational migration by Otavalos to countries around the world. By , Amsterdam had become un pequeño Otavalo (a little Otavalo ) with at least  Otavalos living there, selling textiles and playing Andean music. The family mentioned above had a son in Amsterdam and had reason to be worried. Otavalos were among the occupants of an apartment building that was destroyed in the plane crash and resulting fire; we later learned that they had escaped without injury.Thousands of additional Otavalos are permanent or temporary residents of every continent except Antarctica. The Otavalos (their preferred name, although some use Otavaleños) have interested researchers because of their ability to participate in the market economy and selectively adopt features from outsiders that they deem useful, especially technology, while retaining a unique dress and other practices that are distinctly Otavalo. In Frank Salomon’s words, ‘‘Otavalo contradicts the steamroller image of modernization, the as-    Lard vendors and their customers at the Otavalo Saturday market, June . sumption that traditional societies are critically vulnerable to the slightest touch of outside influence and wholly passive under its impact . . .’’ ( []: ). Recent decades have seen the arrival not of steamrollers but of commercial jets to international airports in Quito and Guayaquil, bringing more than , visitors annually to Otavalo and flying thousands of Otavalos abroad. In addition, telephones, FAXes, the Internet, radios, and televisions facilitate communication between Otavalo and distant locales, further connecting Otavalos to the world beyond the valley. Some Otavalos have their own web sites (for example, www.otavalo.com); and there is a general Otavalo web site, Otavalos Online (www.otavalosonline.com), which bills itself as ‘‘the virtual community of the Otavalos.’’ Otavalo indígenas exemplify the paradoxes of indigenous people enmeshed in global economic systems and expanding transnational networks, and the community is engaged in debate about what this means for ‘‘our traditional indígena culture.’’ The title Andean Entrepreneurs attempts to tie together the many strands of my argument. An entrepreneur is a person engaged in a commercial undertaking, especially one that involves risk. Unlike many indigenous people, for Otavalos entrepreneurialism is part of their ‘‘traditional indígena culture.’’ Nearly two decades ago Leo Chavez defined a deeply embedded Otavalo ‘‘entrepreneurial ethic’’ among commercial   weavers (: ) that included an eagerness for economic independence and an emphasis on rationality, frugality, honesty, self-reliance, and innovation in business endeavors (ibid.: –). Indeed, it is difficult to find a publication on Otavalo that does not mention the Otavalos’ commercial savvy. Since Chavez wrote, the entrepreneurial ethic or spirit (among other values, some complementary, some competing) has helped Otavalos of both sexes cope with globalization as knitters, sewers, weavers, merchants , musicians, and small business owners (hotels, bus lines, restaurants , etc.) launch commercial ventures in Otavalo and around the world. The Otavalo experience must be seen against a background of preInca traveling merchants, forced labor in Spanish colonial obrajes (Sp. textile sweatshops), and later wasipungu (Q.), debt serfdom involving extensive work for an hacienda (Sp. large farm or ranch) in exchange for the right to farm a small plot. The mass production of textiles in the colonial era involved brutal exploitation, debt servitude, and land loss but provided the Otavalos with the technology and experience that underlie their current prosperity. Foreign visitors to Otavalo and people interested in textiles often ask me if the Otavalos are becoming ‘‘corrupted’’ by making and marketing nontraditional textiles, yet these two major traditions—the production of textiles for outsiders and travel...