THE CONSTRUCTION OF A VENTRILOQUISTS IMAGE - LIBERAL DISCOURSE AND THE MISERABLE INDIAN RACE IN LATE-19TH-CENTURY ECUADOR

How are images constructed from one of Ecuador's political discourses? This article analyses: (1) the transition in 1857 from a state-centre d form of administration of indigenous populations (the tribute system ) to a decentralised form in the hands of private and local powers whi ch effectively rendered these populations invisible; (2) the ensuing p ower-game between Conservatives and Liberals which aimed to forged a s ymbolic analogue of the indian and create a political field; (3) the m anner in which the Liberal Revolution (1895) implanted a 'ventriloquis t's' political representation which became a channel for indian resist ance; (4) the research problems which 'invisibility' of the indians an d the 'ventriloquist's' voice pose for historians.