Displaced by the desbarranco. Riverbank erosion in Kukama-Kukamiria communities (Peruvian Amazon)

Holl A.R.; Rivas-Ruiz R. · Desde el Sur (2026) · DOI: 10.21142/des-1802-2026-e0031

Resumen

This paper examines how the Kukama-Kukamiria in the Peruvian Amazon adapt to their changing riverine environment and how this relationship is reflected in their cosmology, spiritual perception, and respect for the territory. It analyzes oral testimonies about riverbank collapses, their repercussions on agriculture and settlements, the causes attributed to them, and the measures taken to provoke or prevent them. The qualitative research is based on three interviews conducted by the authors in 2020 in the communities of Nueva Fortuna and Leoncio Prado, and one in Nauta in 2024, as well as on twelve research notebooks produced in 2002-2003 by Kukama-Kukamiria students of bilingual education. These sources represent a unique emic perspective on historical events and how they are remembered and retold within the communities. The study concludes that constant environmental transformation may explain the unstable nature of bodies and the agency of rivers in Amazonian Indigenous ontologies.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana