Recognize the contributions of people of African descent to literature and culture, objectives of the ‘Reading Mentidero’, led by Yuliana Ortiz

Juliet Ortiz, A writer from Esmeralda, she seeks to highlight the importance of the contributions to Ecuadorian literature of Afro-descendant culture through the Reading Mentidero, a space where Afro-descendant authors from Latin America are read to and oral tradition is kept alive.

The mentidero or metidero, as they call it in the north of Esmeraldas, is a space where people gather to tell stories. In this activity, “the oral memory of grandparents and grandparents is passed on to the new generations,” Ortiz explains.

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Ortiz leads the activities of the ‘Mentidero’ each week: Tuesdays from 2pm to 5pm on the terrace of the Library of Arts and Thursdays in the cultural centers of Trinitaria Island. The activity is promoted by the Vice Rectorate of the School of the Arts, the organization where Ortiz works, and by the School of Literature of the same institution.

The goal, meeting side by side to discuss works and share stories, is to amplify the stories of communities that have suffered “historic gag”, regarding the last year of the decade of Afro-descendants declared by the United Nations (UN) in 2013.

“Historical silence makes us think that what the elders of other communities who are not part of the official accounts of a state or nation are telling us is a lie,” Ortiz explains. “Unlike the idea of ​​a single nation or state, there are these other stories that are constantly growing and dividing.”

Despite being an activity that stems from the academy, the ‘Mentidero’ does not want to be an academic space. “We talk a lot about our rural memories, about the stories we were told in our cities, about the great-great-grandmother of African descent that no one talks about,” says Ortiz.

In Esmeraldas, he says, the cultural contribution of Afro-descendants is much more recognized than in other parts of the country. They contrast attitudes towards Afro-descendant identity with those in Guayaquil: “In Guayaquil, people have a bit more difficulty recognizing Afro-descendants because of the socio-political context. Nobody wants to be Afro-descendant in Guayaquil,” Ortiz emphasises.

Part of that historical socio-political context, Ortiz points out, has to do with the fact that Guayaquil was once the “most important slave port in the Americas.” Most of the people who arrived in the country as slaves did so through the Main Port, he says, and this permeates the current attitude that “afro-descendant bodies can only serve to serve.”

The importance of activities like the ‘Mentidero’ also lies in what Ortiz refers to as a ‘persistent absence’ of people of African descent in Ecuadorian academic spaces. Making the contribution of Afro-descendants to culture and philosophy visible is also important, he continues, because “Afro-descendants are always on the periphery, which is a remnant of coloniality.”

Another motivation for carrying out the ‘Mentidero’ was the UN report on the situation of Afro-descendants in Ecuador. A delegation of experts visited Ecuador in December 2019 and presented their findings in 2020. “People struggle with access to justice, security, land, clean water, education, healthcare, housing and economic opportunities,” said Ahmed. the UN Working Group on People of African Descent.

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The UN made a series of recommendations to the Ecuadorian government, such as stepping up campaigns against racial discrimination, recognizing the cultural contribution of Afro-descendants, implementing ethnic education curricula in the national education system, and ensuring access for African-American communities. descendants to “justice, security, land, clean water and health care.”

For Ortiz, the state has not followed these recommendations, so he has been willing to rely on UN reports to propose activities such as the ‘Reading Mentidero’.

As part of curating texts and authors for the analysis and discussion activities, Ortiz selected texts from authors from countries such as Brazil, Cuba, Angola, as well as Ecuador and other parts of the world where the African diaspora has settled. In some of these countries, Ortiz points out, authors of Afro-descendants are much more recognized.