Symbolic Activations of Heritage: The Case of San Biritute

In the Ecuadorian commune of Sacachún, cultural heritage has become a focal point of local development policies and a key issue for highlighting the value of local identities. The ancestral San Biritute monolith occupies a central position within the community’s cultural repertoire. In 1952, the monolith was removed and taken to Quito. It was returned to its original location in 2011. The people of Sacachún have come to organize their lives around this important symbol, which gives meaning to spaces of reproduction and forms of subsistence. This paper analyzes the case of San Biritute and explores what the monolith’s return reveals about the community’s self-perception, to discuss how it has become a meaningful resource for managing alterity.