The Double Spiral

What might we discover if we challenged anthropocentric assumptions and recognized human life as part of a much larger fabric of existence? What new possibilities might emerge if we looked beyond canonical theories of human behavior and listened to other ways of knowing that lie beyond the boundaries of modern science?

THE DOUBLE SPIRAL TAKES UP THIS CHALLENGE.

Drawing on extensive ethnographic research conducted in Ecuador, Laura González Carranza examines the complex relationships among gender, power, coloniality, and intangible cultural heritage. She traces the evolution of cultural heritage as an institution in Ecuador and reveals how its practices can perpetuate hierarchies rooted in structures of power that endure to this day.

To understand-and reimagine-these structures, the author brings ancestral knowledge into dialogue with contemporary debates on gender. In doing so, she invites us to reconsider not only how cultural heritage is defined and managed, but also how we understand power, human relationships, nature, and existence itself.

Provocative, original, and deeply rooted in the Ecuadorian experience, The Double Spiral offers a valuable contribution to anthropology, cultural studies, heritage studies, gender studies, and decolonial thought.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura González Carranza is an Ecuadorian anthropologist with a Ph.D. in Latin American Cultural Studies. Her research explores gender, power, ancestral knowledge, sacredness, intangible cultural heritage, and the relationships between human beings and nature.