Percepciones sobre el concepto nación: diagnóstico a través del aporte literario de Juan León Mera y la propuesta del decoloniaje

Perceptions about the concept of the nation: diagnosis through the literary contribution of Juan León Mera and the decolonial proposal

Glenda Viñamagua-Quezada

Universidad UTE, Quito, Ecuador

glenda.vinamagua@ute.edu.ec

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9514-1855

(Received on: April 01, 2019; Accepted on: April 15, 2019; Final version received on: May 05, 2019)

Suggested citation: Viñamagua-Quezada, G. (2019). Perceptions about the concept of the nation: diagnosis through the literary contribution of Juan León Mera and the decolonial proposal. Revista Cátedra, 2(2), 38-52.

Resumen

De la labor literaria, así como del arte en general es relevante su postura crítica, que surge como una respuesta a los acontecimientos que se manifiestan a nivel social con el fin de cuestionar el sistema establecido y conseguir transformaciones. Esta labor se comprende como el compromiso que deberían asumir los intelectuales. En este caso se hará un acercamiento a la postura de Juan León Mera con respecto a la creación y comprensión del concepto de nación a través de la composición de la letra del Himno Nacional del Ecuador. Se expondrá desde el enfoque de teorías como el decoloniaje y el corazonar, una alternativa de espacios inclusivos, que se asumirán como un reto para la sociedad al ser abordados y difundidos desde la educación. El objetivo del presente artículo es reflexionar en la construcción de la idea de nación a partir de la exclusión del otro y en el decoloniaje como una forma de contrarrestar este pensamiento. Para ello se ha realizado una investigación bibliográfica documental desde una óptica hermenéutica. El aporte de esta investigación radica en enfocar a la teoría del decoloniaje como una alternativa para despertar la

conciencia crítica hacia la reivindicación en comunión con la alteridad a través del trabajo literario y educativo.

Palabras clave

Alteridad, coloniaje, decoloniaje, intelectuales, otredad, nación.

Abstract

From the literary as well as the art in general, its critical position is relevant, arising as a response to the events that manifest at the social level in order to question the established system and achieve transformations. This work is understood as the commitment that intellectuals should acquire throughout history. In this case, an approach will be made to the position of Juan León Mera regarding the creation and understanding of the concept of nation through the composition of the lyrics of the National Anthem of Ecuador. It will be exposed from the theory approach such as decolonialism and heart, an alternative of inclusive spaces, assumed as a challenge for society to be approached and disseminated from education. The objective of this article is to reflect on the idea of nation and its construction from the exclusion of the other due to the process of colonization as a way to counteract this thought; for this a documentary bibliographic research has been carried out from a hermeneutical perspective. The contribution of this research lies in focusing on decolonial theory as an alternative to awaken awareness towards the claim in communion with otherness through literary and educative work.

Keywords

Alterity, colonialism, decoloniality, intellectuals, nation, otherness.

1. Introduction

The concept of nation is in constant change, although its beginning obeys certain historical processes, it is also true that those who agree and accommodate their approach are the minority groups, giving way to the marginalization of the peripheries in the Nation project. Due to the rigidity that is intended to articulate this concept by linking it only with some elements that privilege the minorities in front of the other, Bhabha (2002), indicates "Fanon's critique of the fixed and stable forms of nationalist narrative make it imperative to question theories of horizontal and homogeneous empty time of Nation narrative" (p. 189)

Thus, the marginalized groups of the idea of nation should be subjected to a process of cultural annulment and indoctrination to be recognized as part of it, because this concept was structured from inclusion and exclusion to achieve a common identity. This approach differs with the differences that make up the human groups, so there are many criticisms about it. Therefore, Mellado (2008) says "a nation cannot be thought of in terms of closure, but should be regarded as a figure in constant evolution, as something that is being constructed continues" (p. 31).

The colonial gaze to build the concept of nation displaces otherness and validates the vision of power groups. In the Ecuadorian context, the literary work of Juan León Mera and his visionary position regarding the indigenous in the formation of the nation after the Spanish invasion process is valued. However, the religious and idiomatic conditions imposed on indigenous people to integrate them into the Ecuadorian nation should be mentioned.

These conditions show the dependence on the Spanish crown, which still remained in the nascent republic, a dependency that still remains nowadays. This attachment is still present with other types of colonizers and is known as the coloniality of the being, of knowing and of thinking.

It is necessary to clarify that the coloniality that prevailed in the idea of Ecuadorian nation was the concept of race; term that originated a stripped culture that became visible with the work of Mera, and despite the questions that could exist regarding its position on the indigenous culture, his contribution was vital and visionary for the recognition of diversity due to the context in which his work arose. As Quijano indicates (2000)

The power structure was and still is organized on and around the colonial axis. The construction of the nation and above all of the nation-State have been conceptualized and worked against the majority of the population, in this case of the Indians, black people and mestizos. The coloniality of power still exerts its dominion in most of Latin America, against democracy, citizenship, the nation and the modern nation-State (p. 237).

It thus raises the decoloniality, theory originated in America, formerly known as Abya-Yala1, like a place of coexistence from the integration of the cultural diversity, where the otherness opens way to a range of different possible forms of life in the idea of the nation. Within this scenario, the writer will assume the challenge of narrating a new history with the prominence of the peripheries, while the teacher cultivates the critical thought from the classrooms from insurgent thoughts like the heart, described by Guerrero (2010) as:

Thinking about it is not simply a neologism, but it implies thinking of a way of breaking the fragmentation that made the coloniality of power, since reasoning has been the center of the Constitution of the human from the colonial rationality of the West; and from a semantic point of view the single word connotes the absence of the affective, the reason is the center, and affection does not appear even in the periphery (p. 40).

This thought is based on the Andean philosophy, where thinking prevails with the heart; this is the way how human beings are understood as an integral and balanced system that values the common well-being against the individual desire, in counterpart of the capitalist modernity that originated in America from the European colonialism, where reasoning prevails before the individual in front of the group.

With regard to the methodology, this article complies a documentary bibliographical investigation that uses the hermeneutic method to carry out a journey through the historical process that provoked the emergence of the Ecuadorian nation, the figure of the indigenous and the role of Juan León Mera in this context when writing the National Anthem of Ecuador. The proposal deals with decolonialism as a formula that denounces the persistent

1 Abya Yala means Mature Land, Living Earth or Land in Bloom; it was the term used by the Kuna, native people who live in Colombia and Panama to designate the territory understood by the American Continent. According to the historical moment lived, they referred to this territory in a different way: Kualagum Yala, Tagargun Yala, Tinya Yala, and Abya Yala, the latter being the one that coincided with the arrival of the Spaniards (Carrera B. and Ruiz Z., 2016, p. 17)

colonialism "as a process of domination that has not yet concluded, but has been concealed by an intrinsic phenomenon to the same coloniality: modernity" (Guerrero, 2010, p. 25).

2. Main theoretical approaches for the inclusion to the concept of nation

Concretizing a meaning of nation is a complex task, even more when the reality of the Spanish colonies in America is observed, where the cultural exclusion keeps the other in the periphery and decreases him/her in dominant hegemony, configuring history and the present. Thus, thinking that nation and culture are inherent terms would exclude the integration of diversity into a single project. In such a way that in order to belong to a nation, the culture must be cancelled and assimilated by the power groups to feel inside and protected by it. In this regard, Gellner (2001) clarifies that "man wants to be politically united to those and only those who share the same culture" (p. 80). The purpose of this condition is to reaffirm the purist spaces that locate, categorize and discard in terms of getting societies to retain the historically established roles.

These concepts traditionally transmitted reveal the marginalization of minority groups and their consequent conditioning to annul their cultural identity, condition to be accepted as part of the nation. It is necessary to mention that these minorities are not included in fullness despite their subjugation, consequently, this condition becomes a tool of dominion. In this regard Romano (1994) mentions:

A nation is a space delimited by natural frontiers, populated by men who speak the same language and who practice the same religion and are united among them by a "national spirit" that is not well identified {...} but the reality is different: in the natural frontiers, not being at all natural for all, people are willing to defend or conquer them. Minorities (ethnic, religious...) generally enjoy very few rights (p. 28).

The concept of a nation is due to a social creation that is useful for the perpetuation of both dominant and dependent states. This concept is disseminated through the use of education as mentioned by the Traverso (1998) "However, all the doctrinal baggage, with marked eurocentric bias has come through the texts of social sciences to all parts of the planet and has contributed to the universalization and reification of all this theorization" (p. 41). Thus, speaking of nation would only be to repeat imposed ideas that are thought and assimilated as their own according to a discourse that appeals to both intellect and emotion.

The idea of nation conforms to the interests of the oligarchy, defined by Romano as owners

and minority groups, whose roles in the society are described as follows:

In 1830, the state of Michoacán in order to define them (according to the norms of the census for the exercise of the right to vote) says: we call owners those who have real estate and those with profession, like the scribes, the military, lawyers, manufacturers, bankers, traders, change agents, artists and others with personal and indirect contributions, and whose interests are closely linked with the subsistence of the government (Romano, 1994, p. 32).

The absence of otherness is described as well as the ignorance of the other in a diverse society, as occurred in the so-called colonies in America for the construction of an integrative nation and whose biases still survive. It Is clear that the important decisions to

construct a social memory have historically ignored the voice of those who were victims of "a violent conquest, bloodthirsty, blind, which led to the destruction of other people possessing a culture and a civilization superior to those of the conquering group" (Romano, 1994, p. 35).

Although the non-acceptance of the external culture against the internal one has been exposed to this moment, it is also necessary to indicate the conflicts generated in the territory. Because of the assimilation of this concept, several interests mainly linked to the supremacy and dominion did not give way to the visibility of diverse cultures in the construction of nation and were intended to annul them.

The problem is not simply the "sameness" of the nation as opposed to other nations' otherness. We are confronted with the divided nation within itself, alienated from its eternal self-generation, becoming a significant space to be made up of, which is internally marked by the speeches of minorities and the heterogeneous histories of rival people, antagonistic authorities and tense locations of cultural difference (Bhabha, 2002, p. 185).

Thus, intellectuals linked to the artistic field with the diffusion of their thought through their work, make visible these hidden realities to include them in the concept of nation, which emerged after the displacement of the colonies. One of these intellectuals was Juan León Mera, who emphasizes the presence of indigenous culture and its importance in the Ecuadorian nation project.

3. Conception of the romantic and foundational in a historical and geographical context

The story is created under the vision of those who have the voice to speak about it, and the present is also being constructed under the same voice. It is necessary to indicate that there is machinery that moves behind the intellectuals, either by their ideology or by their accommodation, and thus creates key moments marked as historical.

The episode that was the framework for the beginning of the idea of nation is referred to the French Revolution and the emergence of the modern age with its nationalist heritage, both spaces nuanced by conflicts and revolution. This revolution commits to the church which until then was a single pillar, to the policy which marks another vision from the French Revolution, to the field of art which leaves aside the neoclassical paradigm of rigidity.

In this context the Romantic Movement arises, marking a rupture with the neoclassical, speaking purely of German or English romanticism. In America, this movement is more related to the founding literature, time that corresponds to the thought of Juan León Mera.

3.1 Inclusion of indigenous culture in the idea of the Ecuadorian nation

The idea of nation emerged as a modern concept to support states after key facts within universal history. In this context, the intellectuals of the XIX century pledged to contribute to the construction of the nation, specially the intellectuals of America, who were also influenced by the emancipation processes of the Spanish crown. Thus, the need this continent had to reformulate a concept of nation from the viewpoint of fusion and the indigenous reality to grant legitimacy from the letters.

A concept of nation urged on this continent that would include the mixing and the indigenous reality and legitimized from the letters. In the newly constituted Ecuador, many intellectuals contributed to shaping this nation in the framework of American Romanticism; however, one of the most significant contributions was made by Juan León Mera, not only for having written the National Anthem, which is certainly his main contribution for the nation, but for the entire intellectual trajectory that led him conclude with this work.

Among his contributions are the translation of the Kichwa into Spanish of lyrical compositions, among which is the poem Atahualpa Huañui whose authorship is granted to a chieftain of Alangasí. In the translation of this piece, Mera shows its commitment to the indigenous cause in the idea of the nation. The following table transcribes selected verses from the poem in its original version, as well as the translation of Juan León Mera and the remarks made by Rodríguez Castelo about the scope of the translation.

Atahualpa Huañui Kichwa	Atahualpa Huañui Translation of Juan León Mera	Note about the translation
8. Puyu puyulla	como niebla espesa	With regard to the translation of this lyrical work, Rodríguez Castelo (s.f.) performs a comparison analysis of the metric and intensity observed in the poem, both in its original language and in the translation and concludes: "Mera has collected repeated and insistent patter, but no the essence of the original Quichua" (p. 29). This observation of Rodríguez Castelo manifests the limits implied by a translation exercise.
9. uiracuchami,	vinieron los blancos
10 curita nishpa	y de oro sedientos
11 Jundarircami.	llenáronse aquí.
12 Inca yayata	al padre inca luego
13 Japicuchishpa,	duros apresaron,
14 Siripayashpa	tendiéronle en tierra,
15 Huañuchircami.	le hicieron morir.
29 Mana llaquisha	¡como no abrumado
30 Ñuca llactapi	he de estar de pena,
31 Shucta ricushpa.	viendo que mi patria
32 Turi cunalla	de extraños es ya!
33 Tandanacuchun,	juntémonos todos,
34 Yahuar pampani	hermanos, y vamos
35 Huacanacushum.	la tierra sangrienta
36 Inca yayalla,	de llanto a regar.
37 Yanac pachapi	desde el alto cielo,
38 Ñuca llaquilla	¡oh inca, padre amado!
39 Ricungui yari.	nuestra amarga pena
40 Caita yuyashpa	dígnate mirar.
41 Mana huañuni,	viendo tantos males,
42 Shungu llugshishpa	¿no me he de morir
43 Causaricuni.	corazón no tengo,
	¿y aún puedo vivir?

Table 1. Elegy verses of Atahualpa Huañui in Kichwa with the translation of Juan León Mera (Rodríguez Castelo, s.f., pp. 25-26).

The verses mentioned in the table do not respond to the entire poem and have been numbered according to their original order. The criterion of selection of these verses is due to the finding of terms that denounce the ravages that provoked the Spanish invasion, its

consequent colonialism and the feeling of the indigenous. It emphasizes the translation work of Mera by becoming diffuser of the indigenous thought through the Spanish language.

Another key contribtion that Mera took into consideration in the nation-building project was Christianity as the condition without discussion to be considered Ecuadorian. Although Mera valued the indigenous culture, its conservative tendency did not allow it to accept a religion different from the Catholic, so his work could not be considered a total vindication of the indigenous culture, however its vision in that historical context is remarkable.

The contribution of Juan León Mera as a founding poet is very significant from the intellectual field, because it influenced his vision of the world to transmit a concept of nation. This idea that germinated included concepts such as multiculturalism, albeit in a limited way by the conditions to which the natives were subjected to be recognized as part of the Ecuadorian nation.

3.2 Inclusion motivated by religion

The founding of the American nation is known as a counterpart of the European not as an independent nation. Therefore, it was necessary to follow other ways of achieving this objective, such as the need to include indigenous cultures (which were then recognized as a single one), but this inclusion was not free. Juan León Mera considered that indigenous people should be included in the new concept of nation, but to do so they had to Christianize and speak Spanish, without leaving aside their customs, languages and traditions, which were allowed to continue practicing but only in their spaces. These conditions should be fulfilled to be recognized as part of the nation.

This point of view of Mera shows the liberal characteristic that characterized him, before appending to the thought of the president García Moreno mentioned by Pedro Moncayo as "traitor of the country and to the republics of Pacific, monster from which has nothing to say as legislator and man of State" (Buriano, 2009, p. 201). With respect to García Moreno, Mera states:

Frankly, I am by nature an enemy of the scaffold, and I do not even want you, but I like that you are the one governing, even if you know how to shoot, because there are things that are worth more than the life of a revolutionary, which are religion, morality, peace and other common interests in a nation (Vallejo, 2002, p. 210)

Mera's political inclination and his intention to claim the indigenous in the nation project could be understood as a conditional pluralism that showed its conservative spirit and also confirms the elements that make up the Ecuadorian romanticism, such as political, religious and social issues or problems.

Religion was so relevant to Mera and to those who thought of the nation in the XIX century, to the point that some intellectuals indicate that Ecuador was formed in the church; this affirmation is confirmed when Mera (S. f) mentions "The political history of nations always (has been) attached with religious history" (p. 180).

It is observed in Mera an intention to vindicate the Christianity presented during the process of Spanish invasion. Mera conceives it as a space that can be shared by white, mestizo and indigenous; therefore, the Catholic faith should be one of the requirements to form nation and be citizens, according to Mera's worldview.

3.3 The linguistic and aesthetics considered as pillars of the nation

The intellectuals of the XIX century, including Mera, have a founding horizon to more of the aesthetic project, which is observable in the case of Mera when creating the letter of the National Hymn of Ecuador. Likewise, it can be affirmed that all his work is oriented towards the visualization of the components of the new Ecuadorian nation considering the kichwa2 tradition in its aesthetic contribution in the literature as in its linguistic structure. In this regard, Harrison (1996) mentions "Although Mera never proposed the adoption of kichwa as a national language, it is observed through his essays that his ideas were based on the principle that language was an external force influencing thought" (p. 85).

One of Mera´s proposals was the incorporation of kichwa words to the lexicon, to enhance Spanish as the official language of the nation; an initiative that is reinforced when he is named member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish language in 1872 (Harrison, 1996, p. 88). However, it is also necessary to remember the indoctrinating weight that the domain of this language had "Mera thought that the aboriginal language was useful only for the groups with a special interest like the clerics and the philologists" (Harrison, 1996, p. 119).

The valuation of the Kichwa for Mera obeyed to the fact of integrating the natives to the project of the nation. The translation of Atahualpa Huañui reinforced the idea of "turning Atahualpa into a founding icon of the Ecuadorian nationality and in a sense, displacing the mythical history of the Kingdom of Quito" (Prieto, 2010, p. 304), although Mera idea referred to the recognition of indigenous influence in the mestizo project of the nation and not to overcome the representativeness of Atahualpa to the Kingdom of Quito.

4. The National Anthem as a symbol of the constitution of the nation

Mera sets the foundations of the nation structure from the literature with its critical studies and compilations of the creations that were given until then. In his literary work, the moralizing and didactic theme was very important in the thinking process of the nation, and the most significant of them was the National Anthem of Ecuador.

It should be mentioned that Ecuador had an anthem of its own 30 years after its formation by the initiative of Juan León Mera. This intellectual from Ambato was born 10 years after the battle of Pichincha, and in 1865 he writes the National Anthem. Four years later Juan José Allende gives music to the hymn, and in 1870 Antonio Neumane wrote the definitive music (Miño, 1996, pp.156-157).

All the work and trajectory of Mera was synthesized in the creation of the National Anthem in 1865, a subject that provoked many questions due to its position with respect to Spain and the colonialism process in the nascent Ecuador. However, this controversy did not make it possible for the lyrics of the hymn to be changed, although its music suffered changes, since the first stanza was replaced by the second.

2 Kichwa is one of the 14 ancestral languages of Ecuador, this form of writing is typical of the communities, while the Spanish version is Quichua, so it will be read Quichua when it comes to quotes to preserve the writing of the original text, and kichwa in the rest of the article.

This conflict remained until 1922, Pablo Arturo Suárez, doctor from Ambato, tries to end this fight, which still showed at that time a service towards Spain, Suárez says "The national anthem that we have translates the feelings of our ancestors and I think we should respect it" (Miño, 1996, p. 157).

However, the desire for the change continued and in 1923 the Congress chaired by Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Rio delegated in the Academy of the language the change of the letter. The Academy brought together three people in charge of this task: Juan León Mera Iturralde, son of Juan León Mera; Manuel María Pólit, Archbishop of Quito, Clemente Ponce, Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this way, the academy, the church and politics from their power had to decide how to resolve this conflict (Miño, 1996, p. 158).

The measures they took were to replace, not eliminate, the second stanza for the first, in this way, Spain would not feel hurt by the Ecuadorian patriotic chant.

I

Your children of the yoke were outraged,

For they were imposed by the audacious Iberians, By the unjust and horrendous disgrace,

Fatally weighing upon you.

From the skies a holy voice cried out,

that noble voice of an unbreakable pledge, to defeat that monster of blood,

that this yoke of yours would disappear.

II

The first sons of the soil, noble

Which the proud; the Pichincha adorns,

They declared you as their sovereign lady forever And shed their blood for you.

God observed and accepted the holocaust, And that blood was the prolific seed

Of other heroes whom the world in astonishment Saw rise up around you by the thousands.

Rise up by the thousands, Rise up by the thousands.

In addition to this exchange of verses, they replaced certain words that denounced the invasion of the Spanish crown. This change is proposed as an attempt to soften the exposed language, but this mutilation showed a tool that far from achieving this purpose more evidenced the transgressive spirit of the Hymn.

According to (Miño, 1996, p. 158), the verses that were attempted to change were the following:

Third verse

Original lyric: “"and to the shattered lion could be heard/of helplessness and roaring vexation”

Chance proposal: "Haughty roaring away"

Fourth verse

Original lyric: “The Spanish ferocity finally gave way”

Chance proposal: " Finally gave up its untamed bravery"

In 1948, after an investigation carried out by Father Aurelio Espinoza Pólit, in the government of Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, the Hymn was formalized, and on November 23 it was declared as intangible (Miño, 1995, págs. 156-162). In 1965, it was established as day of the National Anthem on November 26.

While Mera's speech appealed to the reconciliation of those who were part of the nation, he was recognized as Spanish in American lands, but he also claimed to recognize America as his beloved mother (Miño, 1995, pág. 156). Thus, both geographical, historical and social spaces have a place in their epic chant, however, in his work it is also clear that he would rather sacrifice components of indigenous culture like religion or the detriment of the Kichwa language in search of reinforcing the idea of the nation.

5. Contribution of the education in the decolonial process

The coloniality of seeing, of knowledge and of thinking remains in a special way to the societies that come from a historical process of European colonialism; there is no doubt that these invasions marked the ways of being of the inhabitants of America, formerly known as Abya Yala, demonstrated in everyday attitudes like the ways of dressing, speaking, thinking and writing. The different forms of coloniality allow hegemonic power to manifest and survive in the marginalized groups through their life choices. Valdez et al. (2019), explain it as:

Colonization brought with it a series of negative variables for the coexistence in what is now known as Latin America, philosophical, political and territorial implications that for more than 500 years remain in the minds of the Latin inhabitants, as Fallilone analyses (2017): it cannot be forgotten "the stage of oppression and exploitation lived during the colonization and usurpation of our soil through the Europeans" (p. 238).

Although the implications of the Spanish invasion are highlighted, it should be pointed out that one of the greatest concerns of this violent episode of history is the attack on culture, a fact that does not constitute any questioning, since there is a veil that clouds these new forms of colony "coloniality of power, which originates with the invention of America and establishes a new pattern of global power in the expansion process of the capitalist world system" (Guerrero, 2010, p. 24), then, the only thing that is clear to the new colonies is to assimilate that the ruling by the dominant minorities is valid and surely is what must be done to achieve welfare depending on the new orders imposed.

This way of building and understanding the world-system entrenches the idea of social stratification that legitimizes social roles through the school system, as Molina (2016) mentions, "The school contributes to reproducing the distribution of cultural capital, and it collaborates with the structure reproduction of the social space" (p. 947). In such a way that social roles would be conditioned by the place of origin, culture, purchasing power and race. This conditioning leaves in evidence the coloniality of the still latent power, in this respect Quijano (2000) assures "In other terms, race and racial identity were established as instruments of basic social classification of the population" (p. 202) and they perpetuate through educational systems.

These forms of coloniality come from Western hegemony that includes Europe in the first term and has expanded to the United States. In this regard, Molina (2016) says:

However, inside Latin American schools and also in historical terms, the culture considered legitimate has always been that of the best positioned classes in the local social space, constituted by the descendants of the white European conquers. The "Universal History" taught is the story that Europe has (and then the United States, during the XX century) as a center (p. 954).

This consolidates the coloniality of being, seeing and thinking that survives under the framework that weave the recent colonizers where cultures are nullified to achieve homogenization. In this regard, Bhabha (2002) states "we must always keep open an additional space for the articulation of cultural knowledge that is adjacent and attached but not necessarily cumulative, theological or dialectical" (p. 200).

The nation is set up from diversity and the cultural articulation, where dialogue with otherness is relevant to living in harmony, being one of the main legacies of the indigenous culture. To counteract homogenization, the role of committed intellectuals, i.e., writers and teachers, is nuclear because they are the creators and diffusers of thought through written language. It should be pointed out that decolonial theories should constitute an axis within the critical thought in Latin America.

One of the key elements in the origin of the nation is the creation of its symbols, in which s sought the identification and union of the society. In this way, it is visionary the work of Juan León Mera in the creation of the National Anthem of Ecuador, where the invasion, the colony and the liberation are stated, as well as the indigenous legacy and the Spanish footprint in the conception of the idea of the Ecuadorian nation. This hymn caused controversy, especially with the verses of the first stanza both in the XIX century and in more recent times. In this regard, Ayala Mora (2007) narrates that:

An academic or political act started with the National Anthem chanted by the attendees... After the chorus, when the world began to sing "The first sons of the soil,...", a hoarse and energetic voice sang with the same music "Your children of the yoke were outraged," Many thought it was a clueless, but those who knew him knew that Reinaldo Miño was there, always with the idea to maintain that the song fatherland should not be mutilated; that the first stanza should have remained" (p. 97).

The reaction of Reinaldo Miño as an intellectual is consistent with the decolonial position, which denounces power mechanisms imposed by the west, where the human being is fractionated to submit him from the concept of race. Guerrero (2010) argues

An act of decolonization, would it not be to begin to conquer1 the Western epistemologies that are still present in our academic and intellectual practices? (Guerrero 2010, p. 41).

Then the work of the intellectuals is to be placed in the margins of the society to contravene the standards of the modernity that nowadays constitute the new colony. Hence, the importance of decolonialism as a practice of good living that emerges as a philosophy of minorities to apply ancestral knowledge in everyday forms of life. Making public this way of life through arts and education is a challenge that is still under construction to rethink the human being from the integral aspect.

6. Conclusion

The nation is a voluble concept that has reached exclusionary repercussions, because it encompasses cultural elements that overlap others. This detriment generally reaches the majority that have been subjected to what imposes hegemonic power in search of achieving homogeneity in modern societies.

Nations seek symbols that identify them and that are accepted by those who make them, if the National Anthem of Ecuador is a birth certificate from the intellectuality to the Ecuadorian nation, it is questionable the change of the lyric in favor of Spain, how could it be a nation if there were still bonds of dependence towards the Spanish crown, towards the head of the lion, which Sucre stepped into a statue created in his honor?

In this unfinished and artificial creation called nation, the conflicts that arose due to the lyric of the National Anthem of Ecuador showed that the recent Ecuadorian nation could not be detached from its inventor. From there originates the colonized thought that still survives, perhaps no longer towards the European invaders but towards new organisms and other nations with which other types of dependencies have been generated.

The colonial matrix is still maintained and perpetuated through education, which reveals the coloniality of seeing, knowing and thinking. The work of the writers is to turn the gaze towards decolonial thinking in order to understand it within the current context and to put it into practice in search of the liberation of colonial bonds that are still held in the Ecuadorian society.

1 This term employed by Guerrero (2010) indicates "that the heart does not exclude, does not make the reason invisible, but instead, the heart nourishes it of affection, so that decolonize the perverse, conquering and colonial character that historically has had" (p. 41)

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