Demarcated pens and dependent pets: Conservation livelihoods in an indigenous Amazonian protected area

Abstract

ABSTRACTAnthropological discussions of indigenous participation in (or exclusion from) conservation projects tend to emphasize contrasting socio‐environmental relations and power asymmetries. By tracing Waiwai interpretations of a protected area partnership in southern Guyana, the article describes how indigenous ideas about land and boundaries have implications beyond enacting the “environment.” Waiwai emphases on an obligation of care implied through enclosure, framed in terms of pets and pens, speak to the practical and political importance of building relationships with powerful outsiders for contemporary Amazonian livelihoods. Despite the value placed on self‐sufficiency in environmentalist discourse, the ability to make claims on others—including from a position of dependency—matters for obtaining land rights, development outcomes, and money. These outcomes, which deepen relations to governments, NGOs, and market economies, are important to how Waiwai people think of sustaining their lives. This article suggests that relations of strategic dependency are an important, though potentially fraught, form of indigenous agency in Amazonia. [agency, dependency, environmental conservation, development, Guyana, Amazonia, Waiwai]