LA SEGUNDA MISIÓN GEODÉSICA FRANCESA: APORTES AL CONOCIMIENTO DE LA ANTROPOLOGÍA ECUATORIANA

Abstract

In the first part, the work will try to explain why the Second French Geodesic Mission was made up of soldiers? For this reason, the environment of France and Europe immersed in social, economic and political difficulties that promote the search for resources in pe- ripheral areas will be reviewed, within the framework of capitalism and in the Bismarckian armed peace policy that became the Franco war. -prussian. This context brought anarchism, socialism, and ma- terialism, in contrast to idealism, social Darwinism, positivism, and conservative ideologies that encouraged warmongering and colo- nialism that led to nationalism and militarism.

The second part will seek to answer the question How to un- derstand the social contributions of the Second French Geodetic Mis- sion to Ecuador? The answer is achieved through the review of the investigative works of Dr. Paul Rivet who, more than a Mission physician, had to document Natural History. For this reason, this essay examined his publications during his stay in the country, as well as subsequent prints made in Europe in specialized magazines.
Rivet dealt with topics: linguistic, regional socio-economic, anthro- pological, historical-cultural and ethnographic of various peoples from various regions were studies with a geographic and resource focus. These monographs preceded the publication of the Ancient Ethnography of Ecuador. In his observations of contemporaneity, Rivet highlights social contrasts and persistence of uses, customs and va- lues of indigenous peoples and generalized Christian religiosity. His studies differ from traditional Anthropology, Anthropometry and positivist expectations of racial superiority, prioritizing Ethnography and adopting the diffusionist approach for the American population. In Ecuador, Paul Rivet detaches himself from Europocentrism.