Challenging Decolonial Political Concepts: The Yachay Tinkuy of the Indigenous Movement in Ecuador

The Indigenous movement in Ecuador has a long history of developing decolonial political concepts. Demands such as territorial autonomy, recognition of Indigenous nationalities, plurinationality, interculturality, or Sumak Kawsay/Buen Vivir/good life extend beyond the defence of Indigenous peoples’ rights and challenge the European model of nation state, capitalism, racism and the divide between culture and nature. This contribution will offer a decolonial reading of these decolonial concepts, understanding them as part of a yachay tinkuy , or the confrontation and confluence of knowledges, where the oppressed and marginalized confront the dominating social forces. This is not only about organization and mobilization but also about engaging the established knowledge with alternative visions. The yachay tinkuy made Ecuador's Indigenous movement visible in an exclusionary discursive space, connecting to the demands of other movements and forcing its opponents to respond to its demands. Kichwa historian and activist Benjamín Inuca distinguishes different phases of yachay tinkuy which allow us to trace the development of the Indigenous movement's struggle and explain why the ‘classic’ political concepts have lost relevance within the movement in recent years.