Experiencing Racial Differences in Ecuador at a Time of Global Change
Emma Bignall

I arrived in Quito, Ecuador at night. The yellow lights from the city danced in black, positioned high on mountain tops and low in valleys. My plane landed, and soon my host mother was piling me into her son’s pickup truck that chugged up a winding road. Away I went, thrust into adventure for five months in a country I knew little about. When I first entered the program, I assumed I would learn broadly about Ecuadorian culture and the Spanish language, topics that were discussed in my preemptive training.

Being that I am an anthropology major, it felt as though I had been reading, eating, and sleeping different cultural theories since sophomore year of college when I took my first class. I quickly learned that studying race as a social construct, and experiencing it are two very different things.

Zeheivy, my host mother, is barely 5 feet tall. She is a beautiful woman with striking features and a sharp tongue. Each night, I would sit at the two-seated counter, sip the traditional Ecuadorian soup she had prepared, and talk about any topic that would come to mind. During this time, President Trump had been elected for a little bit over a year and she began to slowly ask me questions about my thoughts on the state of our country.

Zehievy wanted to know mostly about the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality, and how this was all tied to the man we elected. I would then feel slighted, mainly since I was incapable of completely responding in Spanish in a way that I felt used my prior knowledge on the subjects. I wanted to defend my country, while also recognizing the blatant racism from powerful people that had sparked her interest so much.

One day during dinner, Zeheivy explained that she considered herself a white, older woman in society and how this opened opportunities. There we were, a mestiza woman and a Caucasian woman both claiming the title of “white” in the context of our own societal makeup. Looking at her dark complexion, this removed the idea that racial categories were synonymous across all countries. Without my security blanket of being the racial majority, I was able to contemplate this social construct and compare her situation to those of others in the United States, specifically African-American and Latinx individuals. With the news of rising political tension, I tried to explain in the best broken Spanish I could that I believed we hold a certain responsibility as white women to create an environment where discussions of race should be progressive and Zeheivy agreed. Two generations vowing to generate positive global change.

In the beginning of the program, my advisors told us to make ourselves blend in as much as possible, to remove any United States flags from our wardrobe and dress as a true Quiteñan. After a short while, I realized no amount of effort on my clothing would change the fact that my light hair and thick accent stood out.

Each day, I would walk to a bus stop for my commute to the university. If I looked up for too long on this overcrowded bus, a passenger would comment on my appearance and others would likely chime in. I was showered in compliments about my hair, eye, and skin color until I eventually blushed and looked away.

One morning, I saw two billboards towering over me that changed my perspective on the comments I was receiving. One sign was for tutoring young children in school subjects and another for a gym membership. What I saw in these advertisements was that white and beauty were shown as not mutually exclusive. I realized then that I set the standard for beauty and success without inherently realizing it and I carried many ideas of what a person from the United States was onto the bus with me. By looking away and not responding with the justification that there is beauty and intelligence found in all people, I was further confirming that these implications could be true.

Representation of the “White America” was a larger part of my Ecuadorian experience than I first thought it would be. I realized I had expected everyone that I interacted with to take liking to me as an individual, separate from my country and race. As I am settled back in my hometown, I realize what a ridiculous assumption this had been. Pre-conceived notions are bound to happen, but what can be changed is how conversations around race and society are formed.

Traveling through a study abroad program forced me into an environment where I could no longer hide behind how I thought my race and nationality should be viewed, but how it veritably is. Generating progressive conversations around these issues encourages global change that will have lasting effects on the betterment of our world.