Suicidios en Quito, Ecuador. Etnografía de la muerte autoinfligida desde interpretaciones de la vida

Abstract

Suicide is a social drama that affects thousands of people around the world. According to the World Health Organization Annual Report 2014, 804 000 suicide deaths were recorded, which means a world annual rate of 11. 4% per 100 000 population. This thesis was carried out in Quito, capital of Ecuador. In this context, suicide is not discussed openly by society, and it is not considered a problem to be acknowledged by state policies. There is no scientific tradition that studies such situation. In Ecuador, death by suicide in 2016 has increased up to 10. 39% in comparison to 2015 (DINASED, 2016). According to the WHO (2014), the suicide rate in this country is 9. 2% per 100 000 population. But what is beyond this hard and cold information? This document presents many records obtained for this doctoral research on different ways to interpret and live different cases of self-inflicted death in the Ecuadorian society. This includes stories from different sources: mass media, government entities, national statistics, literary and artistic tradition, experts, communities, relatives and messages from people who died by suicide or survived suicide attempts. This thesis addresses suicide as a complex process of meaning and not as an act, which implies opening the interpretation of the phenomenon towards a transdisciplinary approach, in which Social and Cultural Anthropology contributes with ethnographies of different perceptions that social actors have about the dynamics of life. In this process, a phenomenon that tears everyday life becomes visible; suicide breaks the conception of life for different people who are suddenly involved with a misunderstood death. Suicidal persons have stopped living but they still exist. They tell stories about their last moments, so they connect themselves with the community's biography trying to make sense of a "different" type of death. Similarities and differences among the analyzed stories account for the notions of life, its symbols, limitations and affections in the aforementioned context.

Date of Award	18 Sept 2018
Original language	Spanish
Awarding Institution	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
Supervisor	Virginia Fons Renaudon (Director)