Afro Cultural Identity and Student Perception at César Nevil Estupiñán Bass General Education Institution of Simón Plata Torres Parish

Abstract

Identity reflects the essence of each human being, their own characteristics, what they are, what they believe, and those convictions that distinguish them from others. With the objective of analyzing the perception that the students of a Basic General Education Institution at the Simón Plata Torres Parish in the City of Esmeraldas have about the Afro-cultural identity to which they belong, a quantitative study was carried out, with a descriptive approach, to a convenience sample of 29 eighth, ninth and tenth-grade students, divided into groups of 10 by courses, to whom a survey was applied, and the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Scale was selected as an assessment instrument. (EIEM). The ages of the participants are between 12 and 15 years old. The results show that at the Afro-identity level, the students evidenced that the level they have is medium-high. The questions that they answered present a moderate average of 2.78 in total; the aspects that make up the Afro-cultural identity are having Afro-descendant blood, eating traditional foods, being convinced of their descent; they feel attached to their group or community and know about Afro-music. Four categories emerged which are pride to be Afro and knowledge of their ancestors (37.9%), respectively, while being born and living with 10.3% and ignorance of their culture and tradition 13.7%, indicate that few students do not know about their culture and identity. It is concluded that Afro adolescents feel very proud of their Afro community, very well with their cultural tradition, they reaffirm that they are happy to belong to that town and that they are very aware of their roots.