To unite beyond borders

An outline of Ashaninka transnational ethnopolitics

Abstract

This article discusses the trans-frontier, intra-ethnic alliances between the Ashaninka of the Amonia River on the Upper Juruá in Brazil and the Peruvian Ashaninka, especially of the Ucayalli region. It describes the historical context that led to the demarcation of the international border between Brazil and Peru on the Upper Juruá. It discusses the various meanings of frontier for the Amonia Ashaninka, and shows how recent trans-frontier alliances aim at reuniting this indigenous people beyond the international border. They are mostly a reaction to governmental projects of development and binational integration and to the illegal activities underway in the region. Although the Ashaninka see themselves as one people, their binational intra-ethnic alliances reveal no aspiration whatsoever to independence as a State, nor do they deny their national identities. These alliances should be regarded mainly as a political strategy to defend their territories and their rights against external threats.