What is it about?
Yachay tinkuy is the conflict and confluence of knowledges systematically started by the marginalized Indigenous population of Ecuador through the construction of organizations and the Indigenous movement. It allows for showcasing alternative ways of living together and understanding society and our world, both by building up more democratic and direct forms of self-government and putting forward political concepts such as plurinationality, interculturality, or Buen Vivir (Good Life). With this, the Indigenous movement in Ecuador proposes a more radical take on society than decolonial theory does.
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Photo by Dario Valenzuela on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Yachay tinkuy allows us to understand the relationship between the Indigenous population and the majoritarian mestizo society as a struggle of knowledges. The spiral structure of yachay tinkuy as a sequence of stages of struggle that leads to a renewed reality and repeats itself in different circumstances opens Indigenous philosophy to Critical Theory, especially dialectics and materialism.
Perspectives
I have been working on Yachay Tinkuy for quite some time. It was developed by my friend Benjamín Inuca, who passed away in 2019. The concept has considerable strength and possible social, political, and theoretical impacts that need to be explored.
Dr. Philipp Altmann
Universidad Central del Ecuador
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Challenging Decolonial Political Concepts: The
Yachay Tinkuy
of the Indigenous Movement in Ecuador, Development and Change, July 2026, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/dech.70075.
You can read the full text:
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