IDENTITY TRAITS OF MIGRANT SUBJECTS IN THE CHRONICLES RESIDENCE PERMIT BY MARÍA FERNANDA AMPUERO AND THE COLOR OF DREAMS, BY ANNABELLE CHIMBO

Abstract

This article analyzes the identity traits of Ecuadorian migrants, represented in the Ecuadorian migration chronicles contained in the texts Permiso de residencia (2013) by María Fernanda Ampuero and El color de los sueños (2016) by Annabell Chimbo Barros, finding details on construction, change, acquisition, reconstruction and molding of identity in people who have faced cultural, economic, social changes, etc., for reasons of mobility or departure from the country to European or American destinations. In this way, we start from the psychological foundations as an inherent part of the human being and the sociological foundations as a science that studies human relations and interactions. Using as a theoretical basis the postulates of Álvarez-Munárriz (2011), Pinzani (2010) and Zubirri (1986), in relation to identity understood as a complex construct, approached from different perspectives, which direct the identity analysis and internal conflicts linked to migration as a social phenomenon. The thematic analysis method (Braun and Clarke, 2006) and content analysis (Berelson, 1952) were used for data analysis. The results are presented in five categories: personal identity from the ontological meaning; psychosocial personal identity; ecosystemic personal identity; social and religious identity; and identity crisis and conflict. The analysis shows the migration process and the difficulties present in its course and its arrival to their new country of residence, presenting changes in the personal identity of migrants.  The personal identity and identity crisis of the migrant subject shows that the main factor that provokes the migratory processes is the economic necessity produced by the instability rooted in the country, and that the identity feeling of the Ecuadorian migrant subject is built from exile and dispossession and the constant need to find a new identity in a different country.