Cultural Discontinuity

The New Social Face of the Awajun

Over time, indigenous groups in the Amazon region have developed subsistence strategies and cultural practices, reflecting a long process of cultural adaptation. However, the intensification of their intercultural relations during the last few decades has been in many cases creating a series of ruptures in their social fabric—disruptions that have significant implications for their traditional knowledge, subsistence practices, and social interactions. Among the Awajún, this is particularly apparent in areas such as the perception and use of their natural environment, the relationships between women and men, the interactions between people from different age groups, their patterns of residential mobility, the establishment of working relationships, the diversification of their livelihoods, and the definition of their life goals in general. This book explores the effects of such cultural discontinuity among the Awajún of the Peruvian rainforest, revealing the patterns of their new social face.