DEL PASADO PRECOLOMBINO AL PRESENTE ETNOGRÁFICO: PAUL RIVET Y LA EXPERIENCIA DE LA ALTERIDAD EN EL ECUADOR

Abstract

The birth of Paul Rivet’s vocation as an ethnologist in Ecuador has been little studied. Nevertheless, traces of this genesis remain through the writings (published and unpublished), photo- graphs, as well as the collection of archaeological and ethnographic objects that Rivet assembled during his stay in the country. This col- lection of testimonies is evidence of the different approaches that Paul Rivet took to the problem of otherness. Based mainly on his publications, the following paper proposes, by way of an essay, to examine first of all the main dilemmas and questions Rivet faced in relation to the subject of the “Other”. It then explores the possible influence of these questions on the scientific guidelines of the distin- guished Americanist’s subsequent ethnological trajectory.