History class is constantly surrounding us. Wherever we find ourselves, there are people and experiences that directly apply to what we are learning, and oftentimes experiences we have outside of the “classroom” open our minds to new avenues which we can explore and include in our curriculum. The area where we have been since landing in Ecuador sits just north of the Equator. There is a deep-seated relationship here between the indigenous people and the mestizos (those who are a mixture of indigenous and Spanish heritage); the more we study, read and hear experiences about this volatile relationship the more we see the hierarchy come to life around us. The countryside surrounding our little town, is marked with farms lining every mountain and hillside, and in the basins of these valleys sit the large compounds or haciendas, which are the remnants of the encomienda system imposed by the Spanish. Our group has been staying in a hacienda first built in the fourteenth century, the original chapel still stands. The man who now owns this hacienda, Don Diego, a frail but articulate and respectable man, inherited this land from his grandmother in the time of agricultural reform in the seventies. Last week our class sat in the open air courtyard listening to Diego's lengthy historical compilation of Ecuador's full history from Pre-Incan times through the present, and the hacienda's role within it. Although the information absorbed was a bit overwhelming for the first-time-to-Ecuador-student, their eyes were wide and pens moved a mile a minute to catch each date and anecdote. Diego, a Stanford College graduate and multiple term mayor of nearby Cayambe, set the stage for our class.
The next day our group traveled to Quito, we climbed to the top of the tallest Baroque Cathedral in town, Basilica del Voto National. We stood in the bell tower looking over the city. From a different perspective than before, our group could see the view of the city, twenty miles North to South, and only about three miles wide. From a different view, we directly applied conversations from class about how to see past the mainstream historical perspectives. I have been encouraging the students to question the authors of history, and seek different interpretations and angles. What happens when an indigenous person writes about their experience opposed to the Spanish who invaded and colonized the country? What are we missing about Pre-Incan history and why? The answer lies in the perspective or bias of each author, the view from the bell tower made this theoretical conversation more relevant as we observed new versus old Spanish architecture from above, changing our view and perspective from before when we looked at it from the ground.
Wandering from the top of the church down to Quito's Old Town's Square of Independencia, our history class sat on the steps of a white-washed church overlooking a small protest at city hall. The lesson, based partly on Don Diego's timeline from the day before and expanded the fifteenth century. We focused on the importance of Quito to the indigenous cultures, the Inca civilization, and its pivotal role for the Spanish conquest. Our class had groups of young school students and strapping fellows walking through looking at the visuals I had made, but don't fret - our students stayed bound to the lecture. It turns out Quito has always been a place for people from all locations to come together and trade products and ideas. It was also known as one of South America's great centers for religious learning.
We are now on to more adventures, learning about the international migration of Ecuadorians and the unique way Otavaleno people have accepted modern times and dress and still been able to keep their indigenous roots and culture.
Jenae, and our history class!
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