The notion of empowerment has become a Western ‘buzzword’ within the development lexicon over recent decades, especially in relation to improving the socioeconomic and political status of women in the developing world. By exploring narratives of Cañari indigenous women in the Ecuadorian Andes, this thesis considers the meaning of empowerment, as evolved and theorised by the West, in relation to an indigenous context. It employs an exploratory, interpretevist and phenomenological approach to understanding the everyday lived experience of individuals and how they engage with the world around them. It seeks to understand the processes that indigenous women might go through in order to become empowered, considers any potential factors that might influence processes of empowerment for indigenous women, in addition to observing the possible outcomes of empowerment in both their individual lives and for the wider community. It draws attention to the idea of collective empowerment, or power with, as a dominant feature of empowerment in Cañari women’s lives, reflecting the significance of both the family and community in indigenous culture. Focusing on the individualism that pervades Western notions of empowerment does not always fit the meaning of empowerment in non-Western societies. This thesis seeks to demonstrate how.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:706557 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | James, Hannah |
| Publisher | University of Liverpool |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/2006685/ |
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