Buen Vivir and the dynamics of time in Indigenous women’s care work: between emancipation and alienation

In this article, we examine unpaid care work through the lens of subaltern women in Ecuador, highlighting their oppression and resistance. Based on decolonial feminist epistemology, we propose a new framework for analysing well-being in care work, inspired by Indigenous cosmologies. The study presents an analytical framework for Buen Vivir centred on care time and applies it to the Ecuadorian Amazon community of Tzawata. Using such methods as time diaries, interviews and a focus group, it explores when care time devoted to family, self-care, community and territory-nature is perceived as emancipatory and/or alienating. The findings reveal both the emancipatory and alienating dimensions of care and demonstrate the interconnectedness of these four times.