City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2018 The Production of Space: Indigenous Resistance Movements in the Peruvian Amazon Christian Calienes The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2526 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE Indigenous Resistance Movements in the Peruvian Amazon By Christian Calienes A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Earth and Environmental Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2018 i © 2018 CHRISTIAN CALIENES All Rights Reserved ii The Production of Space: Indigenous Resistance Movements in the Peruvian Amazon by Christian Calienes This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Earth & Environmental Sciences in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Inés Miyares Chair of Examining Committee Date Cindi Katz Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Inés Miyares Thomas Angotti Mark Ungar THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT The Production of Space: Indigenous Resistance Movements in the Peruvian Amazon By Christian Calienes Advisor: Inés Miyares The resistance movement that resulted in the Baguazo in the northern Peruvian Amazon in 2009 was the culmination of a series of social, economic, political and spatial processes that reflected the Peruvian nation’s engagement with global capitalism and democratic consolidation after decades of crippling instability and chaos. The recently discovered oil and natural gas reserves that occupy the subsoil of much the Peruvian Amazon provide the latest natural resource upon which the national project can continue to be implemented. In a context of neo-imperialism and neo-extractivism where through accumulation by dispossession, new markets are introduced into global capitalist structures after a history of neglect, indigenous spatial productions have developed in the northern Peruvian Amazon that have arguably contributed to the relative effectiveness of the Baguazo in meeting movement outcomes. This dissertation analyzes these spatial productions through the theoretical framework of Lefebvre’s Production of Space, which is applied to indigenous communities in Condorcanqui province in northern Perú. Unique indigenous nature-society relationship formulations, identity constructions, and productions of scale are considered for their contributions to the production of indigenous capitalist-emergent spaces. By analyzing the role played by the state, the law, and culture in indigenous productions of space, it is also hoped that a better spatial understanding of indigenous social movements can be gained. By conclusion, an inclusion of capitalist-emergent spaces onto Lefebvre’s conceptual triad of spatial production is proposed to facilitate further theoretical applications to the field. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to dedicate this work to the Awajún and Wampís people of northern Amazonas department in Perú, whose friendliness, hospitality and openness defied the stereotypes. Their strength and dignity in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges have been and will continue to be an inspiration. This work would have been impossible without the support of many people, both in the United States and in Perú. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my advisor Dr. Inés Miyares. Throughout this entire process she has been a constant source of support and encouragement. I could not have asked for better mentorship and guidance, and I am truly grateful. I would also like to thank the members of my committee Dr. Thomas Angotti and Dr. Mark Ungar for their valuable and thoughtful feedback. Many thanks to my work family at Kingsborough Community College for their encouragement and tolerance: Stephanie Akunvabey, Linda Biancorosso, Janine Graziano, Gabrielle Kahn, Lauren Levesque, and Cheryl Smith. A special mention to Dr. Richard Fox, whose friendship and confidence in me have been invaluable. Heartfelt thanks to my family, chosen and otherwise, for your support and kindness: Jorge Calienes, Rocío Fernández, Theo Kalomirakis, Edward Siuda, and Curtis Tow. Also, to Shuar Velásquez without whose direction my fieldwork would have been impossible, and to Dr. Kurt Schlichting who gave me my first chance. And especially: My partner Stephen Altman who has been by my side throughout this whole process and whose patience and affection energize and motivate me; Joy Calienes – the definition of a what a sister should be, and my mother Alicia Deza de Calienes, whose memory continues to guide me through everything I do. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………. 1 Chapter II THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE…………………………………………………... 5 METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………………. 9 A Note on Objectivity and Positionality…………………………………………… 11 SECTION I Chapter III THE BAGUAZO IN CONTEXT………………………………………………………….. 17 GEOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………. 19 POLITICAL ECONOMY……………………………………………………………… 23 Early Economic Globalization and Attempts at Democracy……………………….. 24 “Modern” Perú?......................................................................................................... 25 THE STATE………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 26 Agrarian Reform and Velasco’s Regime……………………………………………. 30 Failure of Agrarian Reform………………………………………………………… 33 Return to Democracy……………………………………………………………….. 35 Post-Fujimori Indigenismo…………………………………………………………. 38 POLITICAL PARTIES………………………………………………………………… 42 Guerrilla War………………………………………………………………………….. 54 INDIGENISMO………………………………………………………………………... 62 Mariátegui…………………………………………………………………………... 63 Amazonian Distance from the State………………………………………………… 68 Emergence of the Amazon into the National Psyche……………………………….. 70 Amazonian Resistance……………………………………………………………… 75 THE LAW……………………………………………………………………………… 77 Chapter IV INDIGENOUS PRODUCTIONS OF SPACE………………………………….. 82 NATURE/SOCIETY RELATIONSHIP……………………………………………….. 82 IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION………………………………………………………... 88 Conflicting Multi-Scalar Identities…………………………………………………. 90 The Beginnings of Indigenous Resistance…………………………………………... 92 PRODUCTION OF SCALE…………………………………………………………… 94 Production of Scale in the Amazon…………………………………………………. 96 NEGOTIATING SPACE AND POWER……………………………………………… 98 vi SECTION II Chapter V GLOBAL CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT – TOWARDS EXTRACTIVE IMPERIALISM…………………………………………………………………. 102 CLASSICAL ECONOMICS – THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE PERPETUATION OF PROFIT………………………………………………………... 103 NEOCLASSICAL ECONOMICS: CONSUMERISM AS A STRATEGY FOR ADDRESSING CRITICAL CONTRADICTIONS……………………………………. 108 Consumerism as a neoclassical strategy……………………………………………. 110 Chapter VI EXTRA-CAPITALIST TO CAPITALIST-EMERGENT SPACES…………… 115 SPACE AND TIME: SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATIONS OF CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT……………………………………………………………………… 115 DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION AND CAPITALIST-EMERGENT SPACES…. 120 The Peruvian State and Ideology…………………………………………………… 123 The State and Indigeneity…………………………………………………………… 125 Democracy and Indigeneity………………………………………………………… 128 THE SPATIO-TEMPORALITY OF DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION………….. 132 Space, Time, and Modernity………………………………………………………… 139 Modernity through Cultura Achorada……………………………………………… 142 Chapter VII SOCIAL MOVEMENTS……………………………………………………….. 146 MODERNITY AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS……………………………………….. 147 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND LATIN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY………………. 152 Social Movements in the National Scale……………………………………………. 154 SECTION III FROM TRIAD TO TETRAD: EXTRACTIVE-IMPERIALISM AND INDIGENOUS CAPITALIST-EMERGENT SPACES…………………………... 159 Chapter VIII TOWARDS AN AMAZONIAN ENCOUNTER WITH CAPITAL…………… 161 THE SCALES OF EXTRACTIVE IMPERIALISM – NATION AND STATE SERVE THE MARKET……………………………………………………………….. 164 THE INDIGENEITY OF EXTRACTIVE IMPERIALISM – IDENTITY AS AN AGENT OF DEVELOPMENT AND PRIVATIZATION…………………………….. 165 DEVELOPMENT AS AN AGENT OF EXTRACTIVE IMPERIALISM……………. 166 Extractive-imperialism in the Field – Amulpash…………………………………… 169 The Consolidation of Extractive Imperialism………………………………………. 176 vii THE PRODUCTION OF INDIGENOUS SPACES IN RESISTANCE TO EXTRACTIVE IMPERIALISM……………………………………………………….. 178 Chapter IX THE PRODUCTION OF SPACES OF RESISTANCE – THE INADEQUACIES OF THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE……………………… 184 THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE APPENDED – CONDORCANQUI 185 Encounters with Capital…………………………………………………………….. 186 Solidifying Dialectics……………………………………………………………….. 188 THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE AND MODERNITY………………………………. 194 Modern and Indigenous Architecture………………………………………………. 197 THE CONCEPTUAL TETRAD? THE INTRODUCTION OF INDIGENOUS CAPITALIST-EMERGENT SPACES………………………………………………… 206 TOWARDS A SPACE OF RESISTANCE……………………………………………. 209 THE BAGUAZO AND THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE……………………………. 211 SCALE AS STRATEGY………………………………………………………………. 215 Strategic Environmentalist Myths…………………………………………… 217 Chapter X CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………. 222 STRATEGIES OF RESISTANCE………………………………………….. 223 THE BAGUAZO AS MODERNISM……………………………………….. 230 AFTERWORD 233 APPENDIX Appendix A – Political Timeline of Modern Perú 237 viii LIST OF MAPS Map 2.1 Provinces of Amazonas Department……………...……………………………………… 12 Map 3.1 Perú’s Natural Regions……………………………………………………………………