Dataset: Monumental Silences: Ethnic Representation, Historical Memory, and the Invisibilization of Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Peoples in the Public Heritage of Ibarra, Ecuador

Public monuments are visible testimonies of a community's history, identity, and values. The aim of this study is to analyse the proportion of Indigenous and Afro-descendant representation in the public monuments of Ibarra canton and to what extent citizens recognize the figures they portray and their contributions. Methodologically, the research adopts a mixed-method, qualitative–quantitative, cross-sectional approach. A five-question survey was administered: three sociodemographic questions and two aimed at determining whether 1,900 residents of the canton could identify the historical figure represented by the monument and their contribution. The findings reveal that only 1.79% of monuments represent Afro-descendant figures, 11.97% represent Indigenous figures, and 83.8% depict white-mestizo individuals. Only 8.21% of the population could identify the person portrayed by a monument, whilst 91.79% could not. The study concludes that the population is more familiar with the traditional protagonists of official history than with Indigenous or Afro-descendant figures, thereby perpetuating a biased historical understanding.