Indigenous Political and Intellectual Elite in Ecuador: Notes on its formation in Western modernity

Abstract This article synthesizes the discussion of some actors about the formation and transformation of political elites in Ecuador and the emancipatory rise of an indigenous political elite in this country. The main objective was to understand the formation of a political and intellectual political elite in Ecuador. It is a predominantly theoretical study based on a bibliographic review and consultation of government documents and journals. The methodology used a bibliographic review and systematization of concepts for the field observation conducted during a doctoral fellowship in Ecuador in 2016. The article presents the theme and the context in which the process takes place; the formation and maintenance of elites; and discusses the formation of an indigenous political and intellectual elite in Ecuador, verifying how indigenous political and social movements appear in the national situation.