Preserving the Pastaza

Latin American Studie

In Search of Homo Economicus: Behavioral Experiments in 15 Small-Scale Societies

We can summarize our results as follows. First, the canonical model is not supported in any society studied. Second, there is considerably more behavioral variability across groups than had been found in previous cross-cultural research, and the canonical model fails in a wider variety of ways than in previous experiments. Third, group-level differences in economic organization and the degree of market integration explain a substantial portion of the behavioral variation across societies: the higher the degree of market integration and the higher the payoffs to cooperation, the greater the level of cooperation in experimental games. Fourth, individual-level economic and demographic variables do not explain behavior either within or across groups. Fifth, behavior in the experiments is generally consistent with economic patterns of everyday life in these societies

Localised Voices in the globalised Amazon: challenges of civil society building in Ecuador

Civil society building efforts in Ecuador have provided the Achuar and Kichwas of the Amazon with a voice. This is particularly relevant given the global significance of the Amazon, which makes it essential that local voices are empowered to have a say in the future of their local space. Civil society building efforts aim at empowering historically excluded groups, leading to their political inclusion, as well as to an increase in their decision-making power. The Amazonian indigenous movement demands autonomy, but this has become unattainable due to the area’s insertion into the process of globalisation. In response, the Amazonian indigenous movement has joined forces with counterhegemonic global actors such as activists and environmental NGOs. Donor support to the indigenous movement in the Ecuadorian Amazon empowered indigenous leaders, who have challenged traditional economic development models in their efforts to achieve Sumak Kawsay, or ‘the good life’. The resistance of the indigenous movement of the Amazon to a developmental model that has not delivered on its promises has inspired alternative solutions among post-development enthusiasts, academics and activists. This case study of the Amazon in a global era shows how power relations play out between the indigenous leadership and powerful external actors concerned with the administration of the Amazon´s resources. Civil society building in the Amazon has provided the platform for the expression of indigenous voices. Independently of whether or not powerful groups agree with these visions, these voices have opened up the debate on development alternatives

Les substances du chamanisme : Perspectives sud-amérindiennes

Tout semble se passer comme si, par leur alliance avec un agent immatériel et intemporel qui leur transmet une substance source de savoir et de pouvoir, les chamanes achuar réitéraient la situation fondatrice énoncée dans le récit des temps primordiaux de l’institution de la société. En décrivant de façon comparative cette logique, j’explorerai plus particulièrement le rôle et la nature des substances essentielles à l’établissement des liens d’alliance entre les chamanes et leurs auxiliaires en Amérique du Sud. En m’inspirant des remarques formulées par Bernard Saladin d’Anglure au sujet des « alliés mystiques », je me demanderai en quoi ces agents immatériels correspondent à une humanité primordiale qui fonde l’ethnicité et les pouvoirs des chamanes.By melding with an immaterial and atemporal substance which is the source of all power and knowledge, Achuar shamans act as if they are continually reenacting the conditions described in the primordial myth, when society came into being. Using a comparative approach to unpack this logic, I will concentrate on the role and nature of essential substances and how these consolidate the ties between shamans and their allies in South America. Inspired by comments made by Bernard Saladin d’Anglure when he discussed ‘mythic allies’, I will examine how these immaterial substances define the quintessence of being human and shape ethnicity and shamans’ powers.Todo parece acontecer como si, a causa de su alianza con una instancia sobrenatural que le transmite una sustancia fecundante, fuente de saber y de poder, el chaman reitera la situación fundadora enunciada en los relatos sobre los origines, tiempos originarios de la institución sociológica de la sociedad. El lazo establecido a través del intercambio de substancias entre el chaman y su auxiliar englobaría toda comunidad determinada y relacionaría singularidades puras antes de toda determinación social o política. Contextualizando de manera comparativa esta lógica, exploraré específicamente el rol y la naturaleza de las substancias esenciales para establecer lazos de alianza entre el chaman y sus auxiliares

“Economic man” in cross-cultural perspective: Behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies

Researchers from across the social sciences have found consistent deviations from the predictions of the canonical model of self-interest in hundreds of experiments from around the world. This research, however, cannot determine whether the uniformity results from universal patterns of human behavior or from the limited cultural variation available among the university students used in virtually all prior experimental work. To address this, we undertook a cross-cultural study of behavior in ultimatum, public goods, and dictator games in a range of small-scale societies exhibiting a wide variety of economic and cultural conditions. We found, first, that the canonical model – based on self-interest – fails in all of the societies studied. Second, our data reveal substantially more behavioral variability across social groups than has been found in previous research. Third, group-level differences in economic organization and the structure of social interactions explain a substantial portion of the behavioral variation across societies: the higher the degree of market integration and the higher the payoffs to cooperation in everyday life, the greater the level of prosociality expressed in experimental games. Fourth, the available individual-level economic and demographic variables do not consistently explain game behavior, either within or across groups. Fifth, in many cases experimental play appears to reflect the common interactional patterns of everyday life

In Search of Homo Economicus: Behavioral Experiments in 15 Small- Scale Societies,

Homo Economicus, Behavioral Experiments, Small-Scale Societies,

Colección y aislamiento de especies vegetales de la provincia de Morona Santiag

La presente investigación está ligada al mejoramiento y racionalización de las prácticas medicinales populares que utilizan plantas de la Amazonía ecuatoriana. Este proyecto parte con la investigación de los usos medicinales de plantas que fueron evidenciados en la experiencia docente con los estudiantes Achuar y Shuar, becarios de la Carrera de Tecnología de los Recursos Biológicos Amazónicos y colectadas con ellos en cuatro zonas de la provincia de Morona Santiago. El resultado fue la creación de dos herbarios didácticos en la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana con alrededor de 1.000 especies vegetales colectadas