International Programs

The Tsachila are group of indigenous South Americans who reside in the lowland jungles of western Ecuador. Until recently, their culture was relatively intact due to the difficulties of exploration into these dense jungles. The Spanish conquistadors were unable to conquer the Tsachila, and missionaries did not reach them until the 1950’s. Their culture is unique and has been maintained within a small community near the city of Santo Domingo de los Coloagos.
Recent industrialization and an influx of mestizo (Spanish and Native South American descendants) workers and settlers into this area has exposed the community to new cultures and drastically changed their environment. The land they have populated for centuries has recently become surrounded by the modern world, and many social and environmental changes have resulted.
The Tsachila are attempting to save their culture, and have implemented many different programs to do this. In this thesis, I will discuss some of their traditions, social culture and the changes that have occurred, as well as the various projects and programs they have developed over the years to combat these changes. I will also discuss in detail the project I participated in and its outcomes.
My project involved the identification and documentation of various plants used by the Tsachila for both daily and medicinal purposes. I collected plants which were identified and names in Tsafiki (the Tsachila native language) by members of the Tsachila community. I then keyed the plants to genus and species, photographed, and drew them. I took notes on the environment of the plant, its purpose of use, and any threats to the plants’ survival. All of this information will be entered into a dictionary being developed by the University of Oregon doctoral candidate, Connie Dickinson.