Ethnography of Violence And Human Rights in Ecuador: A Critical Analysis of the Neighborhooding of Non-Human Bodies

This article focuses on analyzing the socio-legal reality of populations in neighborhood and community areas of cities such as Guayaquil, Machala, Quito, Cayambe, Otavalo, and Duran, examining how intersectional violence violates their human rights and limits their life prospects. An ethnographic approach was used, complemented by body biography and life stories to document experiences of structural violence and the mechanisms of resistance designed to survive. This methodology made it possible to highlight how systemic barriers of inequality restrict access to fundamental rights in marginalized communities and peripheral areas of the country. The findings reveal that intersectional factors such as gender, sex-gender diversity, race, class, migration, disability, among others, converge to relegate these bodies to "sacrifice zones." The absence of the state creates a vicious cycle in which people must resort to extreme survival strategies, such as dropping out of school, forced migration, sex work, gang involvement, underemployment, or unemployment. These conditions perpetuate marginalization and social segregation. The research shows that the absence of the state and hegemonic systems are determining factors in the denial of access to fundamental rights. This process of systematic exclusion transfers the populations studied to spaces of subordination where they are conceptualized as "non-human," thus legitimizing their violation and even their death in the name of the "common good." This institutional dehumanization strips these communities of their basic dignity, highlighting the urgent need for public policies that recognize and protect their full humanity.