Interviewer: Lessli Martinez

Interviewee: Alicia Dominguez 

Interview Setting:  The interview was conducted in my household at 8:00 PM on November 20.

Affiliation with interviewee: Alicia Dominguizis, my grandmother, is part of the Ecuadorian subcultural. He has a lot of knowledge about Ecuador and speaks one of the most popular ingenious languages that the Incas Tibre used. 

(Start of Interview)

1. Interviewer: Who is the oldest relative you remember (and what do you remember about them)? Interviewee: My grandparents, with whom I lived and shared until I was 25, taught me about the Catholic religion. Helping the community, collaborating on festivities, or when missionaries
2. Interviewer: What kind of family reunions or special family outings did you attend? Interviewee: There were only a few outings because there were no possibilities to go on tours and no roads for cars to enter our community. Our community did have that kind of access. Suddenly, my dad became president of the community there. Created many changes and started helping with access to the schools and giving rides for the children of the community school—going in swimming pools to places outside the community. My dad was the first president of the community. Because of that, they visited some institutions named mission Andina. They went to help provide that system where they helped my dad train him—giving leadership courses and taking him to different sectors such as Quito, Aguasland, and others.
3. Interviewer: Why did that organization choose your dad as president of the community? Interviewee: The organization had the sector residents choose someone to represent them. They decided on my dad because he was more open to leadership and served as president for about five years. He led many community works. When he became present, I was at least seven years old. The organization was from the government.
4. Interviewer: Where did the money the community president used for community projects come from? Interviewee: The government did not provide any economic support; my dad used his resources or community support in what he could. When it came to building the roads, the organization at the beginning helped to elect my father as president. That organization supported the project by giving economic support with machines and everything the community needed regarding materials and machinery.
5. Interviewer: Did the government build the roads? Interviewee: My grandfather told me there were no main roads in the cities then; he used to take groceries from one town to another. He took it on horseback, taking food such as vegetables and grains. Then he filled the train but to build it, the lieutenants recruited people too badly and took them to the people as detainees. After a while, they paid them in reais, but it was not much.
6. Interviewer: What stories or family memories have your parents or grandparents passed down to you? Interviewee: My grandfather told me about the battle of Verdeloba, which is why it is commemorated on December 20 by Tarqui. In those times, there were many battles on a green hill. Then my grandfather told me that his grandfather said to him that he supported him by selling most of his land to use the money and support by giving weapons because of the war between Gabriel Garcia Moreno and Alfaro. Alfaro started fighting with 300 men, and Gabriel Garcia Moreno had more than 5000 men. Alfaro gave freedom to the oppressed because there was much oppression in the time of Garcia Moreno. They oppressed the indigenous people they had as enslaved people. They made them work for free, so Alfaro gathered the men and said they were considered indigenous.
7. Interviewer: Who was considered the indigenous people? Interviewee: Our ancestors descended from the Incas or other tribes. My grandfather used to say that the bosses of yesteryear were the ones who had haciendas, and they made people work for free, we used to say, giving them work by the back and by the feet.
8. Interviewer: Who were the superiors, and based on race or economic situation? Interviewee: The superiors were those who had more money; they had haciendas. The white people descended from the Spaniards because the mixture came later and began to see racism. My grandfather told me they punished him and his companions because they could not do the work they wanted. Earning three reais a day is almost not worth a penny nowadays.
9. Interviewer: Which generation of your family did slavery end? Interviewee: According to my grandfather, Eloy Alfaro freed slavery, freed the prisoners, freed the oppressed, and put laws in place. Although after the war, my grandfather was still part of that experience or remembered the mistreatment. But slavery was already diminishing. My grandfather was the one I lived with and would tell me some of his experiences. However, slavery didn’t exist much anymore at that time. It was becoming part of history.
10. Interviewer: What essential world events have occurred during your lifetime, and have they significantly affected you? Interviewee: When we had a thrill with the newly appointed president Jaime roldós Aguilera, and a few months after he was appointed, he died young because he was sent to be killed. There are many rumors that the United States killed him because this is a powerful country. In his dreams, he talked about how our country was rich in minerals such as gold, silver, copper, black gold, oil, aluminum, and many more minerals. Then he thought he did not need the other countries. He thought to look for something inside our country and form companies and create jobs for everyone so that no one would suffer and no one would leave the country. He was going to deliver the flag to the conscripts for the Pledge of Allegiance, and he was traveling to the East. When he was on the plane, they had paid some mechanics to save the nut so it would not collapse in the air.
11. Interviewer: Have you had any encounters with another civilization? Interviewee: The Achuar, the indigenous people of the jungle, guarded the riches of the East in the Amazon in a jungle far away. Although now the cartels go to the last place where they are. We knew how they arrived in canoes when we went to the east. But now they have money; they also change what kind of meat or fruits they need with rice or things they need. And they only bought and fished for nothing more than before when I was young. They used to wear a tunic and speak another language. But they are already civilized, also. They are already teachers and engineers, and there are many leaders. Our former President Rafael Correa left them very well protected with many laws and benefits.
12. Interviewer: Are there any stories or legends you hear about the gold of the Incas? Interviewee: Our country. The Incas hid the gold wherever they went, along the streets they walked, whether it was pots or they also buried all these treasures, jewels, and caves, along with the dead. There is a phrase that says that Ecuador will not die of war, and it will not be part of any natural disaster, but it will disappear and fall because of the leading governments of Ecuador. Even th
13. InterviewerDo you speak other languages? Did any of your relatives speak different languages? If so, why did you learn that language? Interviewee:Since I lived with my grandparents, they spoke another language, Quechua, so since they spoke that language a lot, I eventually learned to communicate with them. This language of our ancestors is better known as the Inca, but apart from this, many more indigenous languages are found depending on what region of Ecuador.
14.  Interviewer: Do you speak other languages? Do your relatives speak different languages? Interviewee: If so, why did you learn that language? Since I lived with my grandparents, they spoke another language, Quechua, so since they spoke that language a lot, I eventually learned to communicate with them. This language of our ancestors is better known as the Inca, but apart from this, many more indigenous languages are found depending on what region of Ecuador.
15. Interviewer: How were people who spoke indigenous languages treated? Interviewee: Those who spoke indigenous languages were looked down upon because Spanish became our country’s central origin, and in some parts of the country, you had to look for a delegate to do some paperwork over time.
16. Interviewer: Did the influence of the Spanish conquest significantly affect you or our ancestors? Interviewee: Although there were many disasters when the Spaniards first came to our country, there is not much we can change; we just have to continue living. As time goes by, our civilization has advanced, and although history is present, our main origins have changed and mixed with other cultures and beliefs.
17. Interviewer: What values and beliefs did your parents teach you? Was your family religious? Did they go to church or follow other religions? Interviewee: My grandfather, since I was little, taught me the beliefs of the bible and to have faith in the Catholic religion. And that is what has happened from my grandfather to my generation and the generation that comes after me; the Catholic religion is essential in our family.
18. Interviewer: Do you believe in the beliefs of the Incas or other people? Interviewee: Many people in our country still follow a few traditions of the Incas, for example, the festive dances and the celebration to script prayer to the sun god that there is the month of June. There are occasions in which we participate and help the community in certain circumstances of dances or festivals.

Reference

Interview Dominguez, Alicia. Personal interview. November 19