The Representation of Guayaquil's Sexual Past: Historicizing the Enchaquirados

Abstract

The article assesses the role played by the enchaquirados in the historical reconstruction of Guayaquil's sexual past. In this regard, the alternative reading of this pre‐Hispanic homosexual harem of boys questions the city's traditionally heterosexist history; however, rather than simply blaming official historiography and pretending to offer some new historical truth, the present contribution looks to interrogate the inherent problematics of historical hermeneutics. Through this critical evaluation of the enchaquirados legacy, I offer some needed insight into the nature of historical production in Ecuador and into the pervasive limitations of all historical production in post‐colonial contexts, particularly Latin American ones. In this manner, the article looks to place the production of Guayaquil's past and its reigning masculinity discourse) in an ever changing discourse in which elements of colonial relationships, race, and regional geography play a vitally determining factor, and are constantly re‐determined themselves in the process.

History, violence and collective memory: Implications for mental health in Ecuador

“…The history of Ecuador has long been violent. From pre-Hispanic times (circa 10,000 BC – 1534 5 ), including the few decades of Inca 6 colonization of (mainly) the highlands, around 1460, there were intergroup conflicts (McEwan & Delgado, 2008), which are assumed to have entailed forms of gendered violence (Ubelaker, 2003); for example coastal men were reported to “treat their women very badly” (Fernández de Oviedo, 1535, cited by Benavides, 2002, p. 75).…”

“…Catholicism and the Spanish language were imposed with systematic cruelty. Ritual practices led by shamans – which not only included the use of alcohol, ayahuasca or coca (Stahl, 1986; Vega, 2012), but specific cross-dressing and homosexual practices in the coast (Benavides, 2002) – were considered abominable devil worshiping by the Spanish (Silverblatt, 1983). The indigenous were stripped of their culture and community organization, while the Church patronised them (Conferencia Episcopal Ecuatoriana, 2001; Ibarra, 1992).…”

The island of menstruating men

“…The cumbi camayocs, like the enchaquirados (homosexual harem of chosen young men at the service of the communities political and religious leaders) on the Ecuadorian coast (BENAVIDES, 2002), provide a more nuanced way of understanding how gender/secxual difference was constituted in the pre-Hispanic past, and perhaps provides insightful manner of understanding this varied legacy of sexual variation present in contemporary times BENAVIDES, 2018).…”

« Asi se baila en mi tierra1 ». Les Warmishinas2 dans les danses populaires andines : le cas du groupe de danse Ñuca Trans

“…(Photographie : Ñuca Trans) L'anthropologue et archéologue équatorien Hugo Benavides a enquêté au sein des archives des chroniqueurs espagnols de la colonisation et découvert des récits concernant les pratiques homosexuelles et transsexuelles des indigènes qui étaient légitimées au sein même de « l'ordre de genre 38 » des sociétés incas. Il y existait en effet le statut de warmishina, équivalent de la personne transgenre, dont le rôle était probablement accepté et institutionnalisé, même si les sources l'attestant manquent 39 .…”