Form Submission: Participation Entry

Bananas are a key source of income and subsistence in some indigenous Shipibo communities in the Peruvian Amazon. My thesis focuses on the perspectives of banana farmers in these communities. Through ethnographic field research, I explored two main themes. The first: how and to what extent is the concept of “indigeneity” invoked by Shipibo farmers, Shipibo leaders, and non-Shipibo researchers? Identifying Shipibo people as ‘indigenous’ is useful to local leaders and outside researchers seeking to advance particular goals, but is often beside the point for farmers who were most concerned about access to schools, health outposts and stable banana markets. My second theme is local environmental change as described by my informants. How do farmers experience and describe environmental change? What other views of change and cultural or social experiences are connected to the changes they observe? I will present my findings and contextualize this research in the broader environmental anthropology literature.