Dissertation Research: Ideology, Agency, and Production in an Andean Peasant Community: The Collective Struggle for Self-Determination

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This project involves the dissertation research of an anthropology student from the University of Kentucky. The topic is to describe how recently developed indigenous peasant social movements in highland Peru facilitate the economic survival of households in light of the severe constraints of rural poverty. The student will conduct a case study of one rural township near the city of Cajamarca, involving the administration of a baseline questionnaire to a sample of 80 households, participant observation in local economic, social and political activities, in-depth analysis of the function of the communal institutions, and a set of intensive life histories. The fundamental questions to be asked involve how these rural Indians have organized to defend their social and communal interests in two organizations, the rondas campesinas, (defence-self-help groups) and the clubs de madres (mothers' clubs), and the answers will come through analysis of household-level variations in economic activities, social organizations and various aspects of cultural capital. This research is important because it will advance our understanding of a fundamental process occurring in the world today, the struggle for self-determination by poor, disadvantaged peasant communities through new organizations in local civil society. Case studies such as this will give planners and development specialists information about how local communities self-organize under varying social and economic constraints; information which will be useful to developing new programs of aid to facilitate peaceful democratic institutions.