Neighborhood and City in Coastal Ecuador1
This study examines various dimensions of urban social organization among a poor population living in a rapidly developing city of coastal Ecuador. The differential distribution of kin, friend and ritual kin is seen as having adaptive significance with respect both to neighborhood dynamics and to wider socioeconomic change in the urban environment. A case study of a traditional fisherman who has benefited socially and materially from changing socioeconomic condi- tions is presented as illustrative of a type of adaptive strategy which is used by some to take advantage of new opportunity. some notable exceptions such as Mangin's (1967) study of squatter settlements in Peru, Peattie's (1968) analysis of a lower class barrio in Venezuela, and Leed's (1970a, n.d.) studies in Brazil. Also there are some popular accounts such as Maria de Jesus' (1962) tale of lower class life in Sao Paulo and the Brooks' (1965) description of Peace Corps work in Ecuador. Recently, coverage has been extended by Ashton's (1972) analysis of differential adaptation to relocation among blacks and mestizos in Cali, Colombia, and by Reina's (1973) examination of social structure in an Argentine city. Unfortunately, this inchoate state of South American urban studies, from an anthropological view, is not restricted simply to poor social and geographical representation, and to paucity of data generally, but extends also to the kinds of phenomena analyzed. As in other parts of the world there has been heavy emphasis placed on rural-urban migration, squatter settlements and the culture of poverty. In part these concerns are a logical outgrowth of the traditional anthro- pological focus on tribal and peasant peoples who are now caught in the sweep of wide scale social change, and in part they are popular themes reflecting deep concern over the implications of world urbanization problems. This global process is, of course, substantial and far-reaching and certainly merits much of the attention devoted to elucidating its effects on those population aggregates with which anthropologists have been commonly concerned. Yet, it should be