Autopoiesis del cuidado, un mecanismo social para la resiliencia humana. Estudio de caso de intervención post terremoto Manabí – Ecuador

Abstract

The complexity of current social problems shows the need to widen our understanding and deepen the discussion concerning practices used in the field of social interventions. It is important to reflect on and critically analyze how these interventions are carried out in order to examine the reasons for doing so. In recent years, new conceptual approaches have slowly been introduced and point out problems as well as address identities of self-subjugation and self-limitation, which tend to hierarchize differences and stigmatize poverty. This poverty, both tangible and intangible, has been transmitted for generations by a consumeristic society, which is most evident within rural communities and outlying urban areas that have essentially been abandoned and forgotten. Global crisis demands epistemologies that transform realities. To that end, Maturana and Vaerla’s concept of “human autopoiesis” was utilized as a social mechanism to aid individuals in the transition from a highly vulnerable, post-earthquake condition to a more stable situation. Human autopoiesis is a form of existence whereby one is involved in the continued construction of one’s self and one’s environment in order to achieve permanent homeostasis. The hypothesis of this study states that the practice of caring for oneself and others is a significant factor in the process of constructing one’s self and integrating skills of assertive resilience, which aid in the resolution of adversity. In order to observe this social mechanism of human autopoiesis, active participants generated both the initial and final conditions of the process, utilizing psychosocial instruments of behavioral change. Individuals participated in this process for nineteen months after a 7.8 earthquake devastated the northern coast of Ecuador. In order to evaluate each person's process, an instrument called the Comprehensive Evaluation of an Individual's Condition (AICI) was applied. This evaluation is based on the level of satisfaction in twenty-four, separate criteria that address the internal condition and the environment of an individual. Each person assigns a value in six categories that evaluate the individual’s situation. The ratings range from poor, with a value of 0, to optimal, with a value of 6. The value amounts are added up to represent the person's position within his or her process. This process of self-evaluation was carried out progressively in various areas, which included both individual (interviews) and group (assemblies) inquiries. Reactions to one’s conditions change, which mark the construction of one's self within his or her environment. At the end of the study, the people expressed in their own words how they saw themselves. They could recognize themselves as being a person who has one of three identities types: 1) subjugated without awareness or desire to make changes, 2) subjugated with awareness but no desire to make changes and 3) resilient with awareness, desire to make changes and acts accordingly. Within each identity, the integration of self-care and skills of assertive resilience were manifested. During the study, the behavior of each individual was observed and within the categories of self-definition, habits, feelings and one’s process of decision-making were identified. Essential elements of each identity manifest feelings that affect one’s decisionmaking process and the consequences affect one’s immediate environment as well as opportunities to resolve his or her individual condition. Understanding the social mechanism of human autopoiesis contributed to the development of assertive resilience in order to face adversity and manifest positive changes within the family unit as well as the transformation of an individual’s surroundings.