About Naula
I´m Puruhá from El Troje in Chimborazo, Ecuador, and I am a native speaker of Kichwa/Quechua. Since childhood, I have been linked to the organizational process of Indigenous Protestantism. My grandparents, Tránsito Guacho and Juan Naula-Yupanqui, were pioneers in converting to Protestantism in 1954. I´m José Naula´s son, the first National Director of FEINE (1978-1980). Even though GMU missionaries started to preach in Indigenous communities in 1902, the El Troje community (Kichwa-speakers) is where Indigenous Protestantism began an enormous awakening. My Naula and Yautibug family were instrumental in the advance of the protestant faith. The first indigenous Protestant pastors, teachers, medical doctors, and the first Kichwa congressman in Ecuador were part of my extended family, a fact not unrelated to the pedagogic labor of missionaries and Peace Corps Volunteers in my community.
Runakunaka achka watakunatami upalla kawsashkanchik. Ñukanchik llaktakunapika mana alli rikushkami kawsarkanchik. “Map Runa, Killa Runa, Mana-yuyak Runa” nirkakuna. Kay watakunaka Ñukanchikllatakmi ñanta japishkanchik, Ñukanchik shunguta samarichishkanchik. Kunanka Ñukanchikllatak shungumanta killkashunmi, rimashunmi. Mushuk punllakuna angakuna shinami shamunka.
Research Interests
Economic and political anthropology; the intersection between religion (Indigenous Protestantism), global societies, capitalism, and power in Indigenous People in Latin America; Indigenous elites, their origins, and their influence in Latin America
Research Background
My M.A. thesis, “From Weavers to Preachers: Visual Memories of Indigenous Protestantism in Ecuador (1954-1967),” through photography explores the Mushuk Kawsay (New Life), in facts and moments lived by my Ayllu when they hosted Peace Corps Volunteers and Gospel Missionaries Union-GMU in Chimborazo since decades of the fifties. I curated the Andean Photography Exhibit “Chimborazo Runakuna: Intimacy, Religion, and Power in the Andes of Ecuador (1954-1967)” at the University of Florida, November 2024. It talks about capitalism, colonialism, and paternalism. I worked as an instructor of the “Kichwa/Quechua Through Culture I and II (CLAS 0694)” classes at the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida.
Education
MA, University of Florida (2023), Latin American Studies, Indigenous Studies; Certificate in Human Rights, Indigenous People, and International Cooperation, Universidad Carlos III-Madrid, Spain (2014); BS, Universidad San Francisco de Quito (2005), Agriculture
Presentations
"From Weavers to Preachers: Visual Memories of Indigenous Protestantism in Ecuador (1954-1967). Dispositions Ethnohistory Workshop, University of Pennsylvania, Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies, Philadelphia, PA, June 11-13, 2023