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KAMETSA ASAIKI. the Pursuit of the Good Life in an Ashaninka Village (Peruvian Amazonia)B

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KAMETSA ASAIKI. the Pursuit of the Good Life in an Ashaninka Village (Peruvian Amazonia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FI ?7M< I<HL<JK<; K?< 7GGIFGI@7K< <D87I>F 8<CFN# 4?< =FCCFN@E> @J 7E 7>I<<; I<HL<JK 8P 97E;@;7K< 7E; JLG<IM@JFI I<>7I;@E> K?< <C<9KIFE@9 GL8C@97K@FE F= K?@J K?<J@J) +99<JJ KF GI@EK<; 9FGP 7E; <C<9KIFE@9 GL8C@97K@FE F= K?<J@J K?IFL>? K?< 5E@M<IJ@KP F= 3K +E;I<NJ# -7K< %% +GI@C &$%% J@>E7KLI< F= 97E;@;7K< J@>E7KLI< F= JLG<IM@JFI For my abuelito Juan Barletti Valencia and my compadre Julián Miranda Casanto who taught me how to live well in their very own ways. COVER: ‘KAMETSA ASAIKI’ BY NOÉ SILVA. “Kametsa asaiki [the good life] is like this painting cousin... a man and his wife living happily, with beautiful faces... but there is always someone in the back, waiting, jealous of their happiness.” |ii ABSTRACT This thesis is an ethnographic study of the pursuit of kametsa asaiki (‘the good life’) in an Ashaninka village by the Bajo Urubamba River (Peruvian Amazonia). My study centres on Ashaninka social organization in a context made difficult by the wake of the Peruvian Internal War, the activities of extractive industries, and a series of despotic decrees that have been passed by the Peruvian government. This is all framed by a change in their social organization from living in small, separated family-based settlements to one of living in villages. This shift presents them with great problems when internal conflicts arise. Whilst in the past settlements would have fissioned in order to avoid conflict, today there are two related groups of reasons that lead them to want to live in centralised communities. The first is their great desire for their children to go to school and the importance they place on long-term cash-crops. The second is the encroachment of the Peruvian State and private companies on their territory and lives which forces them to stay together in order to resist and protect their territory and way of life. I suggest that this change in organisation changes the rules of the game of sociality. Contemporary Ashaninka life is centred on the pursuit of kametsa asaiki, a philosophy of life they believe to have inherited from their ancestors that teaches emotional restraint and the sharing of food in order to create the right type of Ashaninka person. Yet, at present it also has new factors they believe allow them to become ‘civilised’: school education, new forms of leadership and conflict resolution, money, new forms of conflict resolution, intercultural health, and a strong political federation to defend their right to pursue kametsa asaiki. My thesis is an anthropological analysis of the 'audacious innovations' they have developed to retake the pursuit of kametsa asaiki in the aftermath of the war. I show that this ethos of living is not solely a communal project of conviviality but it has become a symbol of resistance in their fight for the right to have rights in Peru. |iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis, the fieldwork that it is based on, and the years of studying that preceded it, would not have been possible without the encouragement, trust, optimism, and much love that my parents, Lourdes Barletti and Diómedes Sarmiento, gave me throughout my years of anthropological training, even if they originally sent me to St Andrews to become an economist. I also thank my grandmother Lucila Tejada and my late grandfather Juan Barletti who instilled in me a great love for my country and trust in my ability to do whatever I proposed for myself if I really gave it my all. To them, and to my sister Paola, my aunts, uncles, and cousins, ¡gracias! Of course, my greatest debt is to the Ashaninka people of the Bajo Urubamba and Tambo rivers that opened their houses to me with an incredible kindness, guiding me through a transformation that made me worthy of sharing their laughter, tears, and much love. There are so many people I would like to thank, but this thesis would not have been possible without the patience and friendship of Joel Bardales, Gerardo Zevallos, José Castro, Miqueas Quentisha, Enrique Miranda, Delfín Ruiz, Miguel Camukín, Inés Gonzales, Gali Izurieta, Adelina Ruiz, Félix ‘Tigrillo’ Castro, Celso Quentisha, Sebastián Quentisha, Kendis ‘Kensho’ Reátegui, Neicer Reategui, Segundo Miranda, Enrique Casanto, Bernabé Vela, Julio ‘July’ Reategui, Julio Reategui, Alejandro Miranda, Eximir Miranda, Bernardo Silva, Noé ‘Shenkare’ Silva, and all the players of the Nueva Generación football team with which I travelled to so many Campeonatos and Aniversarios. A special thank goes to my compadre Julián Miranda who passed away in my last week in Nueva Esperanza. There are so many more people that I would like to thank that I met in canoes, feasts, football championships, protests, and Atalaya bars but whose names I cannot remember. I also thank the children of Nueva Esperanza and Anapati who were braver than their |iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS parents in trying to get to know the confused, curious, and clumsy outsider in my first days in their villages. Parts of this thesis would not have been possible without the kindness of the Ashaninka people of the Ene River, especially Ruth Buendía and her sister Rosa Buendía. To all of them, pasonki maroni noshanika! I thank Søren Hvalkof for recommending I visited his friend Joel for a couple of weeks; a visit that lasted for more than a year and a half. I also thank my fellow ‘Ashaninkanists’ Emily Caruso, Hanne Veber, Sandro Saettone, Vanessa Navarro, Antonio Sancho, and Stefano Varese for their insightful comments, encouragement and, most importantly, their friendship. I owe much to Peter Gow for introducing me to a part of my country that I knew existed but seemed so far away, in every sense.
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