Silvia G. Álvarez Litben

Research

Founder Director of the research group: “Grup de Recerca Interdisciplinari, Històrica, Ambiental i Cultural” – GIRHAC at UAB university. My research topics are: a) Processes of ethnic resistance in the Americas; b) Social policies of development, and Good Living (Sumak Kawsay concept); c) Construction of identities and ethnic territorialities on the Ecuadorian Coast; d) Society’s relationship towards Nature and coloniality; d) Use of pre-Columbian water management technologies; e) Communal Organization, and the sustainable management of collective resource; f) Transference and application of scientific knowledge to museum exhibits, documentaries and consulting projects  and g) Cultural heritage, ancestral knowledge, and analysis of symbols.

My main themes of interest are: a) Inter-ethnic relations, interculturality, acculturation; b) Interdisciplinary qualitative and participative research; c) Long term social and environmental transformation processes; and d) Communal land management. Currently advisor of the “Complejo Cultural Real Alto” in the Pechiche Commune, Santa Elena, Ecuador.