Paper short abstract:

The paper will investigate how representations of space, landscape and history in schoolbooks are used strategically by settlers (colonos), the nation state, indigenous communities (the Federation of the Shuar and Achuar), and NGOs to design images of the past and the future.

Paper long abstract:

The paper will investigate how representations of space, landscape, and history in schoolbooks are used strategically by settlers (colonos), the Nation State, indigenous communities (the Federation of the Shuar and Achuar), and NGO`s to design images of the past and the future. It will concentrate on visual representations of landscapes and historic events in the province of Morona Santiago (Ecuadorian Amazon region), and analyse maps, photos, drawings and emblems of various districts and towns. This region has been marked for several centuries by conflictive interests of colonial enterprises and indigenous life worlds, as well as by hybridization and the continuous negotiation about space and culture involving changing actors and interests. In such a setting various groups of people produce divergent sets of meaning that are related to particular aspects of power relations in the region.

I will argue that the representations of landscape form important elements in the production of meaning in the context of the struggle about land and power in the arena of a colonial frontier. They are connected to specific interests in and perspectives on this space, and are closely related to the communication and mediation of differing futurities.