Asháninka and Yanesha

These indigenous people used to live in small and dispersed population groups (Rojas Zolezzi, 1994) but currently, they reside in Indigenous communities - spaces officially recognized by the Peruvian government for Amazonian indigenous peoples - and have a larger population than in the scattered settlements they previously inhabited (Sarmiento Barletti, 2016).

Among the Asháninka there are differentiated and complementary gender roles in the families and the community (Fabián Arias, 2013). In the main, the men are in charge of hunting and food gathering, while the women are responsible for the preparation of the food and masato (a fermented drink based on yuca), taking care of the children and making handicrafts. Activities such as fishing and agriculture are carried out by both sexes (Rojas Zolezzi, 1994; Varese, 2006). Leadership roles in the Asháninka used to be exercised, mainly, by men. However, in the last decades, factors such as the absence of male leaders as a result of the internal armed conflict between State and Shining Path and a greater opening for the public participation of women, have generated an increase of Asháninka women who assume leadership positions in their organisations and communities  (Fabián Arias & Espinosa, 1997; Paredes Piqué, 2004).   

The Asháninka identity is closely related to their territory, and their connection with nature and the beings that inhabit it (Ministerio de Cultura del Perú, 2014). The Asháninka have developed and prioritised intergenerational ancestral knowledge of Indigenous plant-based medicine, which functions as an unofficial health system. This knowledge is sustained mainly by the elderly people of the community. Indigenous health specialists are known as ‘vaporeadoras’, women who heal through steam procedures with medicinal plants (Ministerio de Cultura del Perú, 2020a).  The Asháninka consider it important to value and transmit this knowledge and traditional wisdom to the new generations of their community (Ministerio de Cultura del Perú, 2014). 

Yanesha 

The Yanesha people are an Amazonian indigenous people with 14,314 inhabitants, living in 75 localities (Ministerio de Cultura del Perú, 2020b). They live in tropical forests with humid climates, in three regions of Peru: Huánuco, Junín and Pasco. The Yanesha have their own language, Yanesha, which belongs to the Arawak linguistic family and 1,142 people in Peru have it as their mother tongue (Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática, 2017). 

The Yanesha share similar historical and cultural roots to the Asháninka, because they have the same geographic setting and linguistic family (Ministerio de Cultura del Perú, 2014). Historically, both have had friendly relations with each other (Weiss, 1975). Similarly to the Asháninka, the Yanesha are engaged in productive activities of agriculture, hunting and fishing (Ministerio de Cultura del Perú, 2020b).

‘Hermana’ is Spanish for ‘sister’. It is the term used by members of OMIAASEC, of any age, to refer to each other and indicates a horizontal relationship of respect, love, solidarity. It helps to bind the sense of community of the group, a sense of belonging. It suggests a connection built on shared histories, cultures and understanding as well as a shared vision of a future where women are accepted as leaders and full participants in their community’s organisation.