This research explores differences in environmental worldviews and connections to the land globally and more specifically in a case study of NGOs working in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest. The aims of this project are to investigate different environmental worldviews expressed between western NGOs and non western local NGOs and to pose these questions 1) what environmental worldviews and ethics are at play in addressing conservation globally and specifically in the Cloud Forest of Ecuador? 2) How do these worldviews influence models for conservation? 3) How do locally-run projects differ from foreign NGOs in addressing the combined needs of the environment and the people in Ecuador? I work to establish a framework for comparing the environmental worldviews of foreign environmental NGOs that of local NGOs, by researching environmental worldviews around the world as influenced by culture, society, history and religion. By using research on case studies done by Jim Igoe, Carolyn Merchant, John Schelhas and Max Pfeffer, I explore the dominant Western worldview of conservation and how its introduction of the National Park model has impacted local communities globally. By comparing this Western worldview of conservation via preservation in National Parks to the nonwestern worldview of integrative models for conservation, I hope to establish a framework for how looking at conservation from the perspective of local communities may prove more beneficial to the future of conservation projects globally. This case study centers around four main community-based conservation projects in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest and asks how their grassroots operations differ from the Ecuadorian National Park system in their efforts to educate and support local communities. This project proposes to dissect these projects designed by local and foreign NGOs to see how they are shaped by their environmental worldviews and whether that worldview includes just the needs of the environment or takes into account the needs of the people as well. This is done through a combination of participant observation and semi-structured open-ended interviews. All data in this ethnography is qualitative and draws on three bodies of literature that serve as frames or approaches to this topic: environmental worldviews, political ecology, and environmental justice. By using these three approaches I show that the environment and ultimately efforts for conservation do not exist within a vacuum but rather lay within a broader context of beliefs, society, and history. / Graduation date: 2012

New data on human skeletal remains from Site 35 in Salango, Ecuador is combined with existing data presented by Jastremski (2006) to compile a more comprehensive report about the health conditions of the people. Site 35, which is associated with the Manteño culture that flourished in the Integration period from A.D. 500 – 1532, has been determined to comprise a singular population that is represented by a minimum of 27 individuals. In addition to more comprehensive conclusions about Site 35, this thesis uses the data from Site 35 in an extended comparison of health among prehistoric sites from six additional sites to observe general trends over time and across geography. Through an indepth analysis of distinct health traits, the general conclusion matches previous reports that the overall quality of health in Ecuador declined over time. However, the present analysis shows a less dramatic decline for coastal sites than for inland sites. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

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En este estudio se examinan las relaciones interculturales entre indígenas y mestizos en el contexto de las celebraciones religiosas de la Semana Santa en Guamote – Ecuador; a partir de un análisis etnográfico visual que tiene como soporte la combinación de herramientas teóricas y metodológicas de la Antropología y los Estudios Culturales. El análisis e interpretación de las formas y modos de celebrar la Semana Santa tiene como propósito entender cómo operan las relaciones interculturales y de poder entre dos culturas que conviven y comparten espacios comunes y que históricamente han sido separadas y divididas; de tal forma que, visibilicen las estructuras de dominación que persisten en la actualidad como residuos coloniales y de la época de la hacienda ecuatoriana. La tradición de la celebración invita a reflexionar en torno a la necesidad que tienen los mestizos de manifestarse en el corpus festivo (símbolos, performances, instituciones y tradiciones) como ejercicio de resistencia al poder que han asumido los indígenas en las últimas décadas y las relaciones de exclusión, control y marginación que surgen en los ritos celebratorios de la Semana Santa. Las categorías analizadas revelan que los mestizos han desarrollado una serie de estrategias que les permite diferenciarse de los indígenas, las mismas que surgen entre el imaginario de exclusividad patrimonial sostenida por los mestizos y el desconocimiento de tradiciones celebratorias de los indígenas. / Tesis

Tesis (Magister en Derecho) / Esta tesis pretende, desde el conocimiento de la realidad ya vivida en Ecuador, describir brevemente su proceso constituyente, realizando una explicación del momento histórico que se vivió, lo que significó su realización en términos políticos, la influencia que tuvo la prensa escrita en la discusión jurídica y política del país, que se tradujo en discursos de legitimación y deslegitimación del proceso, lo que permitirá en un primer momento caracterizar el proceso constituyente ecuatoriano; en segundo lugar describir los discursos que legitimaron y deslegitimaron su proceso constituyente; y como la discusión en torno a ellos en la prensa, se trasladó a la discusión jurídica y política que influyó en la redacción del texto final de Constitución a cargo de la Asamblea Constituyente; para en tercer lugar; realizar un ejercicio comparado de identificación de los principales discursos deslegitimadores, que se presentan en el caso ecuatoriano, y que coincidentemente también se presentan en el debate que sobre la materia se ha instalado en Chile; para analizar la pertinencia de la instalación de una Asamblea Constituyente en Chile. El trabajo de investigación para el caso chileno, se centra fundamentalmente en el debate académico, a veces imbricado con el movimiento social, y en menor medida en la historia social. El método empleado implica una historia constitucional del tiempo presente, en concreto, una aproximación a la dogmática constitucional ocupada de un problema político institucional sustantivo como es el de generar o no una nueva Constitución. Por lo tanto, a pesar que la temática es propia del Derecho Público, no aspira a satisfacer las exigencias de la dogmática constitucional sino a conocer la dimensión más sociopolítica del fenómeno constitucional en la medida que el enfoque empleado es el de los discursos de legitimación y deslegitimación del proceso constituyente ecuatoriano y chileno. En razón de ser una tesis de magíster, cuya extensión debe ser adecuada al nivel intermedio de postgraduación, no hemos buscado agotar el tema sino sólo presentar sus rasgos generales y tendenciales.

The number of children whose mothers are incarcerated is increasing around the world. Educators of young children are faced with new challenges in their classrooms as they work with these children during their formative years for social-emotional development. The purpose of this qualitative study was to interview the mothers, in order to gain their perspective on how they feel their incarceration has affected their relationship with their children; how they believed it would affect their children in the future, and to investigate the perceptions of early childhood teachers who worked with children of incarcerated mothers. Using interviews, observations, journal, and field notes the researcher collected information from 3 incarcerated mothers, 3 of their children, and the 2 teachers who worked with these children. Overall findings were that the mother-child relationships are of extreme importance to the mothers. They have high hopes for a better life for their child, which includes concerns about their education. Mothers had fears that their incarceration would repeat itself in their children and desired for things to be different in their children's futures. They reported their incarceration affecting their children in negative ways. Their children had difficulty depicting their mothers in their drawings. Lastly, the teachers highly encouraged parental involvement, even though the mother was incarcerated. They expressed the importance of the mother-child relationship impacting the child's ability to learn, and teachers believed special training and preparation are necessary for working with these children.

In this investigation the seric retinol levels were determined in order to relate them with consumed diets by preschool- and school-aged children and the prevalence of anemia in the communities of Cuambo and La Rinconada, Imbabura province, in order to later compare them with reference values. Blood samples were taken from 74 children from the two communities, 30 in La Rinconada and 44 in Cuambo, beneficiaries of the Benson Institute, to determine retinol, ferritin, hemoglobin, and hematocrit. Also, a 24-hour record with frequency of food consumption survey was given to the studied children's parents, making a sample of 56 families. Among the principal results we can determine that the inhabitants of the two communities have a low consumption of foods rich in Vitamin A compared to recommendations, despite having family gardens that include a large quantity of foods rich in this micronutrient.

This study was done with the objective of designing and applying a nutrition education program based on a test of improved practices for pregnant women and women of childbearing age in the rural communities of Ibarra canton: La Riconada and Cuambo. For this, information was collected on knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding the eating habits of pregnant women. These results were used to identify content and recommendations to reinforce and/or instruct about eating during pregnancy. Nutrition education was based on the methodology of the improved practices test, which consisted of testing the recommendations in families' homes before recommending them and recording information on their acceptability. The results indicate that pregnant women in the two communities don't eat all the food groups every day. They need to increase the consumption of foods rich in calcium and iron, as well as foods that supply energy, protein, and fats. The pregnant women don't eat additional foods to cover these recommendations during the pregnancy. Despite the knowledge they have and the lessons they received, there are women who don't eat greens, vegetables, and fruits because they don't like them, and those who do eat them don't meet the established nutritional recommendations. The women prefer to eat artificial drinks with unboiled water, and they do not look after personal hygiene. The test of improved practices has been useful for observing if they really put in practice the knowledge about eating during pregnancy, and at the same time it helped design the educational proposal that served as a guide to help improve eating practices of pregnant women in the two rural communities, considering their motivations and recommendations.

This investigation was conducted in the rural community of Cuambo, located in the northeast of the province of Imbabura, in the Mira river basin of Salinas parish, at 1530 meters above sea level and with an average temperature of 19.5° C. The main objective of this investigation was to analyze the effect of using amaranth (Amaranthus) leaf flour in the creation of feeds for broiler chickens. The field work occurred during 12 months and consisted of two phases: A. Creation of the feed: This proceeded from the cultivation, cutting, and drying of amaranth until the obtaining of the flour and later the feed, with the respective formulation and acquisition of primary materials. B. Broiler chicken production: This occurred in the coop of the community's school, previously prepared for taking in the chicks. The study lasted 8 weeks. A completely random design (CRD) with five treatments and four repetitions per treatment was used, with 10 chickens per experimental unit. ANOVA analysis and Tukey and orthogonal comparisons were applied. The factor under study was the percentage of amaranth leaf flour in a basic diet. The treatments were as follows: T0 = Control diet for broiler chickens T1 = 16.7% amaranth leaf flour T2 = 35% amaranth leaf flour T3 = 54% amaranth leaf flour T4 = 78% amaranth leaf flour Analyzed variables: Weekly weight increase, Weekly food conversion, Accumulated food conversion, Total food consumption, Efficiency index, Yield, Skin pigmentation at the end of the treatments, Organoleptic analysis, Mortality, Economic analysis. From the results obtained, we conclude that the feed from treatment 1 (T1) is the best because it gave the most efficient results in terms of weight increase, food conversion, efficiency index, yield, and production cost. In the organoleptic analysis, T2 received more points regarding appearance, color, and texture; T1 received the best points in odor. The most acceptable treatments are T2 and T1, with the most points. In production cost, T4 was the least expensive, but it is not recommended for use because the chickens had poor results in the studied variables.

El presente informe versa sobre diversos problemas por los que atraviesan los pueblos originarios de todo el mundo, enfocándonos principalmente en las comunidades asentadas en América Latina. Los gobiernos, durante las últimas décadas, han buscado generar riquezas al Estado mediante la exploración y explotación de recursos naturales, así como demás proyectos de inversión. Sin embargo, varios de estos recursos se encuentran en tierras ancestrales pertenecientes a pueblos originarios. Si bien la legislación de las naciones establece que los recursos naturales del suelo y subsuelo pertenecen al Estado, no se ha tomado en cuenta la magnitud de los impactos que dichos proyectos generan a los pueblos originarios, afectando seriamente sus derechos humanos. Ahora bien, existen instrumentos internacionales que los resguardan, como lo son la Convención Americana de los Derechos Humanos y el Convenio 169 de la OIT sobre Pueblos Indígenas y Tribales. Sumado a ello, se han generado instrumentos de legislación interna que protegen específicamente los derechos de los pueblos originarios. Sin embargo, la posición estatal ha señalado, en más de un caso, que la promulgación de sus normas, así como la ratificación de tratados internacionales cobra efectos recién desde su generación, no siendo estas retroactivas. Por esta razón, resulta necesario desarrollar el concepto de la interpretación evolutiva de las normas, metodología empleada en el presente informe y cuyo objetivo es demostrar que los pueblos originarios son titulares de derechos desde tiempos inmemoriales, debido a su existencia y posesión ancestral sobre las tierras que ocupan. Como conclusión, el caso logra consolidar la asignación de derechos colectivos, y no sólo individuales, a los pueblos indígenas. Así también, establece los parámetros exactos que los estados deben respetar en cuanto a la consulta previa, libre e informada, derivada en la obtención del consentimiento, sobre todo proyecto o plan de inversión que pueda afectar sus territorios