Unpacking the Ecuadorian concept of Buen Vivir: NEW CHALLENGES AND OLD MYTHS

by Francesco

When in 2007 the newly elected president Rafael Correa announced the drafting of a new Constitution, few would have expected such a drastic turn from the past. Nevertheless, the outcome of the document can be described in many ways as revolutionary.

First of all, in the first article, Ecuador is defined as plurinational, clearly referring to the many ethnic minorities and to the 14 indigenous nationalities that form the country. This feature is of fundamental importance, as it highlights a clear emphasis on the recognition of diversity, in an attempt of breaking the ties with the past and rebuild the legal framework of the country. Moreover, the entire second chapter is dedicated to the Rights of Good Living (Derechos del Buen Vivir) and, finally, another fundamental turn is represented by the recognition of the Rights of Nature, in chapter seven. Let us have a closer look at these last two points, as it is precisely due to their introduction that this document is still considered the most progressive in the entire continent.

Beginning from the latter point, the Constitution of Ecuador is the first one to ever grant the Rights of Nature. From a legislative perspective, this shift carries enormous implications and it can really be defined as a milestone in the fight against the anthropocentric model, main cause of the so-called Anthropocene. Within this new framework, Nature is considered a subject of rights, not an object to which rights may be granted. It is, in other words, an attempt to decolonize the relationship Human-Nature, by redefining its hierarchical characteristics, universally accepted until this day.

Moving on and as aforementioned, among the most interesting concepts that the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador brought to the fore, we surely find that of Buen Vivir, which is often translated into its kichwa term (one of the official languages of the country): Sumak Kawsay. The origin of the concept is still disputed, but it can be translated as a proposal in the making, which aims at fostering an intercultural coexistence of different peoples inside the country, based on democratic values, and a harmonic way of life that would stem from a respectful relationship with Nature. In other words, it might be thought of as an umbrella term, bringing together different interpretations and understandings. Someone affirms that it has an ecologist, post-development and post-extractivist meaning, as the message spread by the movement led by the vice-President of the Constituent Assembly Alberto Acosta. At the same time, there is another movement that shapes Buen Vivir with a strong political connotation, which let the concept coincides with social equality, which is why they usually talk of “Socialism of Buen Vivir ”. Finally, the more indigenist side of the debate refuses to translate Sumak Kawsay with Buen Vivir in the first place, accusing the other interpretations of stripping the notion of its indigenous traditional and cosmological features.

Whichever denotation we want to attribute to Buen Vivir, I believe it is very important to not essentialize or romanticize it: as we have just seen, it is a relational concept, that changes meaning according to the actors that use it and that has neither ancestral nor millennial nature. However, from informal conversations that I had with people belonging to different indigenous nationalities, I learned that the term exists also in languages different than kichwa and that it is still somehow tied to a harmonious way of life in the community and with Nature. In this regard, I argue that the focus has to be put on the community practices that strongly connote many groups in the country, which give themselves shape to what has then later been labelled Buen Vivir. Likewise, the strong on-the-ground resistance that indigenous peoples and peasant groups are implementing against the extractivist politics proposed by the Ecuadorian government is itself a fight for self-determination, that embrace some post-colonial features later attributed also to Buen Vivir.

At this point, multiple questions arise: should we insist and use Buen Vivir or would it be better to move away from the notion, exacerbated, overused and therefore now a mere “signifier with no meaning”? And again, if we go for the first option, how can we implement it so that it bridges the gap between the legislative framework and the on-theground reality? There is no easy answer to these inquiries, but I believe that the investigation should begin from the communities, from the cosmologies that build and shape their everyday practices and from the way in which so-called big issues are addressed and faced at the local level.

Note on the translation: “In English, buen vivir loosely translates “good living” or “well living”, although neither term sits well with Eduardo Gudynas, a leading scholar on the subject. In the “buen vivir” vision, humans are only stewards of the earth and its resources, and individual rights subjugated to that of communities and nature”.

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