Cultural Identity Distance Computation through Artificial Intelligence as an Analysis Tool of the Amazon Indigenous People. A Case Study in the Waorani Community

Aldrin Marcel Espín-León, Antonio Jimeno-Morenilla, María Luisa Pertegal-Felices and Jorge Azorín-López
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Aldrin Marcel Espín-León: Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, Central University of Ecuador, Quito 170129, Ecuador
Antonio Jimeno-Morenilla: Department of Computer Technology, University of Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain
María Luisa Pertegal-Felices: Department of Developmental Psychology and Didactics, University of Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain
Jorge Azorín-López: Department of Computer Technology, University of Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: Cultural identity is a complex concept that includes subjective factors such as ideology, family knowledge, customs, language, and acquired skills, among others. Measuring culture involves a significant level of difficulty, since its study and scope differ from the point of view, the time and the place where the studies are carried out. In the Amazon, indigenous communities are in an accelerated process of acculturation that results in a loss of cultural identity that is not easy to quantify. This paper presents a method to measure the cultural distance between individuals or between groups of people using Artificial Intelligence techniques. The distance between individuals is calculated as the distance of the minimum path in the self-organizing map using Dijkstra’s algorithm. The experiments have been carried out to measure the cultural identity of indigenous people in the Waorani Amazon community and compares them with people living in cities who have a modern identity. The results showed that the communities are still distant in terms of identity from the westernised cities around them, although there are already factors where the distances are minimal concerning these cities. In any case, the method makes it possible to quantify the state of acculturation. This quantification can help the authorities to monitor these communities and take political decisions that will enable them to preserve their cultural identity.

Keywords: cultural identity; indigenous identity; Amazon communities; artificial intelligence; cultural distance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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