The Last Maloca: Transformation of the Communal Dwelling’s Sociocultural Role among the Matsés of Peru

Abstract

Until the period of peaceful contacts with the Peruvian society in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Matsés lived in communal houses — ​ maloca — ​collective dwellings, in which in the recent past all members of one group were usually located. In the following decades, the tradition of constructing maloca among the Matsés was almost completely lost. Today, most Peruvian Matsés are concentrated in villages with a scattered layout and live in huts designed to house individual families. In the collective memory of Matsés, a special attitude is still maintained towards the maloca as a construction type and space that marks their ethnic and cultural identity. However, to what extent do these ideas correspond to the previous perceptions of communal housing in the society of Matsés? In Peru, there remains only one group of Matsés continuing to live in maloca. Why did these people make such a choice, preferring maloca to modern types of settlements? The article analyzes the dynamics of the internal and external social and cultural relations of this group, which helps us trace the transformation of the sociocultural role of the communal dwelling among the Peruvian Matsés.