Rural Social Networks along Amazonian Rivers: Seeds, Labor and Soccer among Communities on the Napo River, Peru

Abstract

Research on Amazonian communities has focussed more often on rural‐urban linkages than on links among rural communities. This is unsurprising, given the low density of population, limited intercommunity commerce, and importance of direct city‐market relations. Social relations among rural communities are also important in shaping rural livelihoods and lifeways. We report on the findings of a large‐scale census of communities in the Napo River basin in northeastern Peru (n=174). Data were gathered on intervillage crop seed acquisition and cooperative labor sharing as two key inputs in agriculture, and on intervillage soccer matches, which are integral to rural social life. We analyze the socio‐spatial networks of each practice, paying attention to settlement patterns, community ethnicity, and differential access to the uplands. We find that seeds and labor flow along soccer network lines. Rural social networks appear to be structured strongly by ethnicity (homophily) and reflect important complementarities between upland and lowland communities (weak ties).

Key words:

• Amazon
• social networks
• PARLAP project
• peasant agriculture
• rural life

We gratefully acknowledge our field team, Carlos Rengifo Upiachihua, Judiht del Castillo Macedo, and Norith Paredes Salas, that conducted the community census, often under very challenging conditions. This study would not have been possible without their herculean efforts and steadfast dedication to the project, and the support of community authorities and elders along the Napo River. In addition, we thank our research assistants, Dylan Shaul, Jackie de Santis, Leona Siaw, Lesley Johnson and Keira Webster, for their fine work. We gratefully acknowledge the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI) for providing access to census data for the region and Richard C. Smith and others at the Instituto de Bien Común for their collaboration. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2016 Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in San Francisco; we thank Emilio Moran, Jim Penn and Bernhard Huber for their helpful comments. This study was supported by grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada, the University of Toronto, and McGill University.

We gratefully acknowledge our field team, Carlos Rengifo Upiachihua, Judiht del Castillo Macedo, and Norith Paredes Salas, that conducted the community census, often under very challenging conditions. This study would not have been possible without their herculean efforts and steadfast dedication to the project, and the support of community authorities and elders along the Napo River. In addition, we thank our research assistants, Dylan Shaul, Jackie de Santis, Leona Siaw, Lesley Johnson and Keira Webster, for their fine work. We gratefully acknowledge the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI) for providing access to census data for the region and Richard C. Smith and others at the Instituto de Bien Común for their collaboration. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2016 Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in San Francisco; we thank Emilio Moran, Jim Penn and Bernhard Huber for their helpful comments. This study was supported by grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada, the University of Toronto, and McGill University.

Notes

We gratefully acknowledge our field team, Carlos Rengifo Upiachihua, Judiht del Castillo Macedo, and Norith Paredes Salas, that conducted the community census, often under very challenging conditions. This study would not have been possible without their herculean efforts and steadfast dedication to the project, and the support of community authorities and elders along the Napo River. In addition, we thank our research assistants, Dylan Shaul, Jackie de Santis, Leona Siaw, Lesley Johnson and Keira Webster, for their fine work. We gratefully acknowledge the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI) for providing access to census data for the region and Richard C. Smith and others at the Instituto de Bien Común for their collaboration. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2016 Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in San Francisco; we thank Emilio Moran, Jim Penn and Bernhard Huber for their helpful comments. This study was supported by grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada, the University of Toronto, and McGill University.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christian Abizaid

Christian Abizaid, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography & Planning and School of Environment, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3G3; [[email protected]].

Oliver T. Coomes

Oliver T. Coomes, Professor, Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3A 0B9; [[email protected]].

Yoshito Takasaki

Yoshito Takasaki, Professor, Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo, 7‐3‐1 Hongo, Bunkyo‐ku, Tokyo 113‐0033, Japan; [[email protected]].

J. Pablo Arroyo‐mora

J. Pablo Arroyo‐Mora, Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3A 0B9; [[email protected]].