This project supports the dissertation research of a cultural anthropologist from the City University of New York. The project is to study the role of archaeology in the maintenance and functioning of the Ecuadorian nation-state, by examining how images of the archaeological past are used to uphold diverse models of the idealized nation-state. Through examination of official and popular media, museum exhibitions, textbooks, and interviews with students and teachers, the project will assess how groups `use the past` to attain present political and social goals. The researcher will examine the most well-known archaeological site in Ecuador to assess how it is represented by the state as well as by diverse interest groups, including a national Indian confederation as well as elite groups of wealthy archaeological amateurs. The role of the black population will also be studied, since they are denied any presence in the population by the ideology of `mestizo-ization` while defined as totally inferior by the social preference for white skin. This research is important because it will shed light on the universal process by which societies reinterpret the past to attain contemporary social goals. This case study will be especially valuable, dealing as it does with a country which glorifies its pre-Inca past while discriminating against contemporary Indian populations and balancing the multiple claims from its diverse population.
