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Presentation short abstract

Focusing on a Peruvian Amazon community, this presentation examines how Indigenous Peoples’ local decisions challenge dominant global narratives of environmental stewardship. It reflects on moralized binaries, local pressures, and the intersections of Indigeneity and environmental justice.

Presentation long abstract

In recent decades, the visibility and participation of Indigenous Peoples in global environmental forums have grown significantly, reflecting the increasing recognition of their role as stewards of the ecosystems they inhabit. However, this celebrated status can become exclusionary, as access to environmental governance can depend on conforming to this narrative that portray Indigenous actors primarily as protectors of nature. A growing body of scholarship has documented cases in which Indigenous communities challenge these expectations, engaging in environmentally harmful activities that complicate these dominant representations of Indigeneity.

This presentation will offer preliminary insights from my ongoing doctoral research with an Indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon. Their members—formerly mobilized against large-scale oil palm expansion— have recently started a partnership with the company responsible for deforesting 13,000 hectares of their ancestral territory. This shift has led to their marginalization within regional Indigenous governance structures and to the formation of an autonomous counter-political movement. Rather than reproducing analytical frames that position Indigenous people only as victims of structural conditions, this research explores the heterogeneous motivations and aspirations shaping the community’s contentious stance.

By examining the various social, cultural, economic and political pressures influencing community choice, the study discusses moralized binaries that separate “good” environmental stewards from “failed” Indigenous subjects. Ultimately, the presentation reflects on how these stories—and their silences—invite a critical rethinking of Indigeneity, environmental justice and power within the Indigenous political system, illuminating the complex political ecologies that arise when global expectations collide with local realities.