El indígena huasipunguero: una construcción histórica desde la novela indigenista de Jorge Icaza

Abstract

This research develops a comparative analysis between Jorge Icaza's indigenist novel Huasipungo and the Ecuadorian historical context during the period in which it was written. To this end, we analyse the historical narratives and fictional ones as a framework for addressing the discussion of the Ecuadorian literature of the first half of the 20th century. The study aims to answer whether this Ecuadorian indigenist novel, through the description of the ways of life and socioeconomic relations between mestizos and indigenous people, should be considered only as literature or also as a historical source for the construction of Ecuadorian historiography. For this purpose, the research structures in three chapters developed through a qualitative approach methodology: documentary analysis of books, academic articles, theses, and other sources of historical documentary character to compare fiction with the historical facts. The objective is to identify the characteristics of history that have been addressed and exemplified in Icaza's novel, such as the traditional Hacienda, the huasipungo production system, the labor division, and relations of power. Social and cultural elements that characterize the different groups (white, mestizo, and indigenous) and that converge in the novel are also addressed. Thus, through these themes, it is concluded which part of Icaza´s literature can be taken as a historical source