Brainstorm Week 8 - Kimia Preston

The political movements in Ecuador towards a new constitution reflect many of the values of both Chicanxfuturism and Convivencia. As with Chicana feminism comes a great respect and duty for La Pachamama, which is reflected in Ecuador’s new constitution that says nature “has the right to exist, persist, and maintain its vital cycles”. Unlike in many other cultures, they are giving Mother Earth rights and respecting the human-earth relationship to allow this earth to keep giving us a home. By illustrating such respect for the environment through government and law, these countries are resisting colonial ideals of neoliberalism and writing a new future of equality. To the people of Ecuador, to “live well” means to “affirm the integral co-existence of the cosmos with all of its constitutive variables, including the affective, ecological, ethical, aesthetic, productive, spiritual and intellectual” (60). This concept relates to the idea of Convivencia because a knowledge of the earth and our relationship to it, forces people to think about all our lives are intertwined and brings us all closer together spiritually. These readings about the Constitution and the values of these Latin American countries, reminds us of the ideals of Chicanxfuturism because it gives hope that change is possible, and that society is constantly evolving to become better.