the cultural connections of urban and periurban indigenous communities to tropical forest through...
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Presentation by Blanca Yagüe at the symposium, "Innovative ways for conserving the ecosystem services provided by bushmeat" in the 51th Annual Meeting ATBC 2014 in Cairns, Australia.TRANSCRIPT
The Cultural Connections of Urban and Periurban Indigenous Communities to Tropical Forest
through Bushmeat Networks in Leticia (Colombia)
Blanca Yagüe, Nathalie van Vliet, Daniel Cruz, Maytik Avirama Pavón
Food from the forest...
… and from the market
Amazonian inhabitants had originally obtain their food from the forest and the rivers
Nowadays, the region is under intense transformation:
huge extractive projects, migration and urbanization, access to new markets, globalization...
Major impact in indigenous populations
Global value chains: industrialized products from all around the world
Food transition
How are food habits changing in the Amazon?
Our research questions are:
Indigenous families still consume forest products in urban contexts?
What role do forest products have in urban and periurban indigenous households?
How do forest products link these people to the forest?
Bushmeat as a model
• Food security- Nutrition: source of protein- “Safety Net”
• Economic resource: contributes to household income
• Social and cultural implications- Traditional foods and rituals- Local knowledge of territory and resources- Social relationships
Important multifuntional role in indigenous communities:
Leticia: a city in the Amazon tri-frontier
- 38000 inhabitants
- migration: colonos and urban indigenous
- connected by river and daily flights
Methods
Ethnography
Participant observation
Interviews
Network building (GenoPro)
Household 1
• 14 members
(5 females, 9 males)
• Ocaina-uitoto
• Periurban indigenouscommunity (Leticia)
• Chagra and garden
• Pluriactivity
• Hunter
Household 2
• 5 members
(1 female, 4 males)
• Muninane, miraña
• Urban area Leticia
(maloca CAPUIL)• Politically active
• Urban chagra
• Traditional medicine
• Pluriactivity
Household 3
• 7 members
(5 female, 2 males)
• Cocama – non indigenous
• Urban area (Leticia)
Relationship with communityof origin
Chagra
Household
Main place where bushmeat is shared, exchanged andconsumed • Bushmeat brought directly
from the forest
• Preparation proccess
• Cooking
• Sharing with guests→ Hunting tales
Exchange scenarios
Forest• Hunting activity (males)
• Alone or in group
• Consumption→ share with companions
(family, friends, tourists and scientists)
Deep knowledge of theterritory and its resources
Maloca
Socialization:Bring together kins and people from different ethnic groups
Share of food → bushmeat
Dance rituals orfestivals
Market
• Sales out of the market
• - by order
- door by door
• Monetary transition
• Confidence based
• Social relationships
Restaurants and food sands
• Monetary transition
• Social relationships
• Urban / rural
• Hidden sales
• Most common: paca
Other households
Less common among these families -
• they offer bushmeat in their households
Urban families eat bushmeat in urban and rural indigenous households
Airport
Network expands in territory and number of actors:
- connection with distant territories
- intermediaries
Need to contend with authorities andairlines
Type of exchange
Immediate exchange
Long-term exchange
Meal sharing
Mediated by money (buy/sale)
Reciprocity
Bushmeat networks
Bushmeat participates in networks that connect indigenous people with:
The forest
The rural territories
Their inhabitants
What connections does the urban indigenous have with the tropical forest?
• It means the maintenance of knowledge about the territory, forest and its resources
What role does bushmeat have in urban and periurban indigenous households?
• Socialization -“making kins”
• Reproduction of rituals –traditional dance festivals
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
- Local people: Food sovereignty
- To incorporate the social and cultural dimensions of
bushmeat and other forest products that play a similar role
when designing management programs
Acknowledgements
All the photos were taken by Blanca Yagüe
Special thanks to all the members of the five families thatare the center of this study, and also to all the personsinvolved in their networks, for sharing their daily life andopening their houses and kitchens to us