Sumak kawsay

Sumak kawsay is a neologism in Quechua created in the 1990s by socialist Indigenous organizations. Originally created as a political and cultural proposal, Ecuadorian and Bolivian governments later adopted it in their constitutions. The term refers to the implementation of a socialism that moves away from Western socialist theory and instead embraces the ancestral, communitarian knowledge and lifestyle of Quechua people. In Ecuador, it has been translated as buen vivir or "good living", although experts in the Quechua language agree that a more precise translation would be "the plentiful life".^[1] In Bolivia, the original term in Aymara is suma qamaña, which has been translated as vivir bien or living well.^[2][3][4]

In the original Quechua phrase, sumak refers to the ideal and beautiful fulfillment of the planet, and kawsay means "life," a life with dignity, plenitude, balance, and harmony. Similar ideas exist in other indigenous communities, such as the Mapuche (Chile), the Guaraní (Bolivia and Paraguay), the Achuar (Ecuadorian Amazon), the Guna (Panamá).

The Maya Tsotsil and Tseltal peoples pursue Lekil Kuxlejal (a fair-dignified life), which is considered equivalent to buen vivir and has influenced the development Neozapatismo.^[5]

Since the 1990s, sumak kawsay has grown into a political project that aims to achieve collective wellbeing, social responsibility in how people relate to nature, and a halt to endless capital accumulation. This final aspect makes the project an alternative to traditional development.^[6] Buen vivir proposes the collective realization of a harmonious and balanced life based on ethical values, in place of a development model that views human beings as an economic resource.^[2] Indigenous movements in Ecuador and Bolivia, along with intellectuals, initially used the concept to define an alternative paradigm to capitalist development with cosmological, holistic, and political dimensions. The 2008 Constitution of Ecuador incorporated the concept of the rights of nature, as did the 2009 Constitution of Bolivia. Diverse theorists, such as economists Alberto Acosta and Magdalena León, say that sumak kawsay is not about a finished and completely structured theory, but rather an unfinished social proposal that can be improved.^{[citation needed]}