From the Rubber Boom to Neoliberalism: debt systems and Kukama narratives in the Peruvian Amazon (Preliminary research)
The preliminary research for my doctoral project took place in one single trip to Peru between June 13th and July 27th (45 days total). In that period of time, I visited Radio Ucamara (a Kukama radio station), different communities settled in the town of Nauta (province of Loreto) and other communities located along the Marañon River. The research entailed participant observation and conversations with indigenous and non-indigenous inhabitants of Nauta, as well as 11 interviews with people involved in rubber extraction in the 1960s, and direct experience with debt-peonage and other forms of debt, such as state credits. Contact and interviews were also made with the current members of the religious group founded by Brazilian priest Francisco da Cruz in the 1970s. In the city of Lima, I started the process of collecting the documentation required to have access to the National Archive. Additionally, I held interviews with Peruvian scholars of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Peru in order to formalize my affiliation with local academic institutions. Apart from the investigative activities, the trip also entailed my participation in the XI Sesquiannual Conference of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America held in Lima, Peru.
Gabriel Torrealba
