Elected representatives: The challenges of pursuing higher education among the Matsigenka (Peruvian Amazon)

Colliaux R. · Sociologie du Travail (2020) · DOI: 10.4000/sdt.33327

Resumen

This article is based on an ethnographic survey of the Matsigenka, an Amerindian population in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon. We examine the issue of further education at the higher education level, a project that, for members of this ethnic group, usually involves travel to the country's major cities. The survey shows that interest in the professionalization of the younger generation mirrors a fear of seeing the group become weaker when faced with the desertion of Matsigenka students seduced by the attractions of urban life. Such a dilemma gives these Amerindian communities a justification for resuming control of further education. Moreover, since they are mandated - and sometimes funded - by their community of origin, various processes exist to provide these students with a strict framework, so as to ultimately ensure their return and the redistribution of acquired knowledge. The article explores the daily lives of young Matsigenka living in the city, the links they create with students of the same origin and those they maintain with their relatives in the forest. It will be seen that, far from being reduced to a simple process of acculturation, these study stays are based on strong obligations and a duty of recognition towards the group of belonging.