The primary objective of the research is to analyze how landowners in the Guayas province, turned land into cultural, social, and political capital, exerting influence on the regional social and political fabric. We will identify families prominently positioned and investigate the origin and their consolidation. We suggest scrutinizing the strategies of elite and their impact on both the political and cultural. Our attention will be in the landed aristocracy of the Guayas province during the years spanning from 1890 to 1930, a frame antecedent to the ascendancy of the Ecuadorian banana industry in the early decades of the 20th century.
Our conceptual framework will be firmly rooted in Pierre Bourdieu's conceptualization of capital. By considering land as an asset not only economic, but we also understand that landlords, across, it impacted and shapes social, cultural, political, and economic dynamics. This perspective emphasizes the role of land in fostering hegemonic structures and fueling contentious speeches, fortifying the power dynamics and perpetuating the dominant position of certain social actors. The research endeavors to examine the mechanisms through which the landowning elite transmuted land into cultural and political capital, thereby enriching our comprehension of the socio-economic history of Guayas, spanning from localized contexts to broader Latin American spheres.