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Design of an instrument to measure indigenous cultural identity: Case study on the waorani amazonian nationality

Abstract:

| Latin American indigenous people have undergone changes in their cultural identity, especially as a result of their contact with Western cultures. As such, a measuring instrument is required to determine the extent of this change. In the Amazon, difficulties in obtaining field data have not allowed the establishment of cultural indicators. This paper presents an instrument designed from the indigenous perspective that allows us to measure their cultural identity. The qualitative study focusing on the Ecuadorian Amazon resulted in an instrument that provides information on thirty subscale and five cultural scales, and was successfully tested for validity and reliability. Finally, it was applied to three populations with different degrees of contact with Western society in order to determine their differences.