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  • Indigenous Peoples in Isolation in the Peruvian Amazon: Their Struggle for Survival and Freedom
  • Katie Chinn
Beatriz Huertas Castillo, Indigenous Peoples in Isolation in the Peruvian Amazon: Their Struggle for Survival and Freedom. Copenhagen: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2004. Pp. 247, paper. $25.00 US.

In Indigenous Peoples in Isolation in the Peruvian Amazon: Their Struggle for Survival and Freedom, Beatriz Huertas Castillo examines the vulnerability of isolated aboriginal groups, focusing on those groups residing in the Amazonian region of Peru. As well as describing the problems facing indigenous Peruvian groups today, she offers insights into the historical events that have contributed to their position of vulnerability. Finding a balance between respecting an indigenous group’s desire to remain isolated and ensuring that their needs are represented and protected is a delicate task. Castillo presents the complexities of this precarious balancing act and makes some recommendations on how it might best be handled.

Castillo outlines the problems faced by isolated aboriginal groups in today’s world by using the example of those living in the Peruvian Amazon, specifically those in the department of Madre de Dios, close to the Bolivian border in southeastern Peru. She describes who these voluntarily isolated peoples are and what factors contribute to their decision to remain apart from wider society. In doing so, she provides a well-rounded overview of the history of indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon, outlining issues they have dealt with such as outsiders encroaching on their land and exploiting their natural resources.

Based on the descriptions in this book, both historic and recent, the isolated indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon have experienced what can be described as cultural genocide or ethnocide, the destruction of a group’s culture. At the same time, they have had to cope with overt and purposeful violence aimed at destroying them or removing them from their habitats in order to facilitate “modernization,” development, or resource exploitation. Violence is a common theme in the stories of these groups. Members of some isolated indigenous communities have claimed that they were “hunted like animals.” Pressured by transnational forces and exposed to disease and environmental destruction, as well as governments, organizations, and companies intent on modifying their lifestyles and livelihoods, isolated Amazonian indigenous groups are some of the most threatened peoples in the world today. Current problems facing the indigenous groups of the Madre de Dios region include logging, mining, oil and gas exploration, colonization, and government plans to open up the region to tourism. There are fears that some, if not many, of the isolated indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon could become extinct if efforts are not made to protect and promote their rights to life, liberty, health, and physical and mental well-being.

Ethnocide in the Peruvian Amazon also occurs when non-native religious organizations promote their views and actively seek to discourage the practice of indigenous traditions. It is important to note, however, that although ethnocidal policies are practiced widely, they have not necessarily led to cultural disintegration. [End Page 131] One reason that groups opt to move further into the forest and avoid contact if at all possible is to maintain their cultural, economic, and spiritual identities.

Castillo points out that isolated indigenous peoples have had to abandon their traditional areas and move to new places, in some cases to escape destructive development projects; one example is the Camasea gas project, whose pipelines have experienced leaks, fouling rivers and affecting the quality of drinking water, fish, and aquatic animals such as turtles. Children in environmentally polluted areas exhibit a variety of health problems.

Each indigenous group has experienced colonization in its own unique way, but they often share the same story of exploitation, vulnerability, and violations of their human rights. Castillo’s efforts to provide context for the group of indigenous peoples living in the Madre de Dios area shed light on the reasons why indigenous groups wish to remain isolated and avoid exposure to the complexities of modern society.

Members of isolated indigenous groups have moved out of areas where there are environmental problems, expanding numbers of outsiders, and rising disease rates. The impacts of these migrations include...

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