Sociocultural Space of the Capanahua People of the Tapiche River (Peru, Loreto)

Abstract

The extractivist boom – rubber extraction, which broke out in the Amazon forests in the late 19th – early 20th centuries – affected the fate of many indigenous peoples of the region. One of them was the Capanahua who lived in the eastern Peruvian Amazon, in the Loreto region, and suffered a crisis of traditional culture as a result of the influx of newcomers, mainly Peruvian mestizos, into their traditional territory and economic exploitation. Before the arrival of the mestizo, researchers did not have time to fully describe and study their traditional culture, record customs and rituals, and social relations. Today, there are virtually no scholarly publications devoted to the culture of the Capanahua. Is it possible now, after almost one hundred and fifty years of close contacts with the mestizo population, to talk about the ethnic self-identification of the Capanahua, about the preservation of any traditional institutions or rituals among this people? Or should we consider and analyze the new socio-cultural spaces that have formed in the traditional territory of residence of this indigenous people? After visiting the Capanahua, I attempt to answer these questions and fill in the gaps in the knowledge about their traditional culture.