An Ontological Turn in the Debate onBuen Vivir - Sumak Kawsayin Ecuador

Ideology, Knowledge, and the Common

Bibliographic Data

ID2178016
AuthorsPablo Alonso González (0000-0002-5964-0489, corresponding author), Alfredo Macías Vázquez (0000-0002-2684-2666)
Year2015
Volume10
Issue3
Pages315-334
Publication date2015-09-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-2222 • E-ISSN: 1744-2230
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17442222.2015.1056070
OpenAlexW1781354917
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited30

Buen Vivir, a political paradigm at work in Bolivia and Ecuador that underpins the state and social regeneration after a prolonged and devastating period of neoliberalism, has become a hotly contested subject within academia and politics. Although it has been categorized as decolonial, post-neoliberal, and post-developmentalist, recent developments suggest that the Ecuadorian government is turning toward a highly extractivist and modernist model based on bureaucratic and technocratic logics. This article focuses on the debate spurred around Buen Vivir, arguing that it has been employed as a cultural representation by many academics, politicians, and social agents, thus foreclosing the possibility of engaging in more grounded and pragmatic discussions and hindering the articulation of alternative political configurations. Accordingly, it seeks to shift the debate from epistemological questions about the conditions of knowledge to thinking the nature of the world ontologically from the perspective of Buen Vivir

Articulation (sociology · Epistemology · Ideology · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Subject (documents · Technocracy · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Indigenous Cultures and History · Law · Philosophy · Politics and Society in Latin America