Lexington Books Urban Mountain Beings: History, Indigeneity, and Geographies of Time in Quito, Ecuador (Culture, Humanity, and Urban Life)

Urban Mountain Beings is an ethnographic and historically grounded study of recognition strategies and ethnogenesis carried out on the flanks of Mt. Pichincha in Quito, Ecuador. Kathleen S. Fine-Dare employs feminist geographical and Indigenous pedagogical frameworks to illustrate how histories of exclusion have created attitudes and policies that treat Native peoples as "out of place and time" in cities. Fine-Dare concentrates on two overlapping contexts for Indigenous vindication: the Yumbada of Cotocollao, an ancestral performance through which mountain and other spirits are called into the urban plaza; and Casa Kinde (Hummingbird House), a cultural organization that engages in workshops, filmmaking, photography, commerce, community education, and the formation of alliances with anthropologists, activists, filmmakers, engineers, and teachers. Review Kathleen Fine-Dare provides an incredibly rich ethnohistorical and deeply descriptive, longitudinal ethnographic account of Urban Andean Indigeneities in the Quito Basin. She transports the reader through Andean time-space and successfully interweaves local notions of history, place, space, and identity with her expertise in South and North American Indigenous identities coupled with personal experiences and narratives shared by long-time interlocutors of the Yumbo Complex of Cotocollao. Fine-Dare engages with a multitude of historical, academic, and contemporary voices and positionalities that complicate previously essentialized concepts of Urban Indigeneity and its perceived fragility. A true example of long-term commitment and "working with heart," this volume provides an excellent and accessible resource for both the avid Andean scholar and broader academic audiences exploring and problematizing views of urban spaces and the populations that live within them through the anthropological lens. Urban Mountain Beings is an outstanding accomplishment and riveting read!--Julie L. Williams, Universidad San Francisco de Quito; author of Diversidades Espirituales y Religiosos en Quito, Ecuador: Una Mirada desde la Etnografía Colaborativa Kathleen Fine-Dare delivers a powerful and evocative ethnography about place-based and affective experiences of understanding among indigenous-grounded urbanites of Cotocollao, Ecuador, who take on the identities of mountain beings and harness the power of mountains, oceans, water deities, and earthquakes as yumbo and yumba dancers during the Corpus Christi festival. This extraordinary longitudinal study tackles the underrepresented subject of indigenous urban experiences in the Andes from a unique perspective, providing insights into historical exclusions, indigenous spirituality, urban ethnic relationality, indigeneity in an era of global realities, and new understandings of gender praxis and symbolism. A major contribution to Latin American studies.--Michelle Wibbelsman, Ohio State University; author of Ritual Encounters: Otavalan Modern and Mythic Community It is a treat to read this compelling ethnography that incorporates a lifetime of research. Kathy Fine-Dare, a leader in the field of urban anthropology, contextualizes issues of neoliberalism and globalization within large Indigenous movements and links issues of urbanity to gender roles. This compelling and powerful book strikes straight to the heart of important issues of Indigeneity.--Marc Becker, Truman State University This extraordinary study of urban mountain beings zooms in on the dynamic 'Indigeneity-as-force' in urban Quito, Ecuador, to offer the reader a cutting-edge ethnography bolstered by in-depth geography, history, ethnohistory, and archaeology. Long awaited, and now available, this study is further enhanced by Kathleen Fine-Dare's expert portrayal of Indigeneities throughout the Americas. Highly recommended for lay people and students at all levels and across disciplines and required reading for all Latin Americanists, especially Andeanists-Amazon