Abstract

ALVAREZ ALVAREZ, William Andrés. An ethnography of consummate consumers, habitus, and trajectories of use and abuse of coca paste in Ecuador. Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2018, vol.41, suppl.1, pp.165-187. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/res.v41n1supl.63121.

This ethnography, carried out in one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods of the capital of Ecuador, is the result of one year of fieldwork, during which I closely followed the daily life of drug dealers and consumers of coca paste, in order to describe the underlying political economy, as well as the ways in which the paste is consumed and the strong addiction it generates. As a narrative resource, I use the life story of "Fabián", one of my main interlocutors, who migrated to Quito in order to escape the violence and poverty he experienced in the province of Esmeraldas. I also describe the circumstances leading to his migration, on the basis of his personal economic and urban trajectory, emphasizing the multiple survival strategies he had to resort to in order to achieve an average economic, emotional, and family stability in the city. My main objective is to show the reader the daily suffering, the subaltern condition, and the structured violence embodied in a young, Afro-descendant migrant, while, at the same time, providing a greater understanding of the rising consumption of coca paste in 21st century Ecuador. Likewise, I discuss the strategies, practices, technologies, and survival rituals commonly adopted by homeless persons to ensure their access to drugs, food, lodging, and money over time, through mixed economies (informal/formal, legal/illegal). Finally, I introduce another series of factors that expand our understanding of this problem, social factors that determine the entry of certain subjects into the world of drugs, the streets, and violence, which contrast with the stereotypes according to which homeless people are usually stigmatized politically and socially.

Keywords : coca paste; consummate consumer; illegal economy; violence.

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