Graduation Year

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Granting Department

Anthropology

Major Professor

Elizabeth Bird, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Kevin Yelvington, D.Phil.

Committee Member

Rebecca Zarger, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Barbara Cruz, Ed.D.

Committee Member

Elizabeth Aranda, Ph.D.

Keywords

Apach, Awajun, Bagua, Photo-Elicitation Interviews, Photovoice, Wampis

Abstract

This dissertation initially utilizes the analogy of an Andean intellectual's magnum opus of resistant visual art and text created in the 1600s, to explore the impact of current global influences on the identity of Awajún and Wampís Amazonian students residing in Lima, the capital city of Perú. The participants in this study are urban Amazonian indigenous intellectuals applying to enter, currently studying in degree programs, or pursuing graduate degrees at local universities of Lima. Using an amalgamation of Photovoice and Photo-Elicitation components, digital photography, open-source applications, and computer technology, participants creatively expressed through their visual discourse what it means to be an Awajún or Wampís citizen of Perú during difficult times of conflictive global interests and unattended local needs. Between the time of preliminary fieldwork in the Amazonian communities in 2008, and the final interviews in Lima of 2010, violence erupted during a local road blockade in the Amazon that claimed the lives of Awajún/Wampís citizens and mestizo police officers alike. It is in that convoluted context where the dissertation delves into the views of the students and professionals regarding their own indigenousness, nationality, and "new" literacies, languages, and technologies that should be considered by the mestizo population and governments in order to make Perú a safer and more inclusive place for indigenous peoples from the Amazon.

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