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Womens oral knowledge and the poverty of formal education in the SE Peruvian Amazon
Sheila Aikman
Formal education is often assumed to be a positive force for change, enabling people to find a route out of poverty. However, this is not always the case. The Haramkbut community in the Peruvian Amazon are now questioning the widespread assumption that schooling can provide knowledge and skills for establishing alternative livelihoods. Indigenous knowledge and traditional forms of work have been devalued through economic changes forced upon the Haramkbut by ecological destruction and environmental degradation. The result of this has been a process of impoverishment, which has been worsened by missionary education and an adherence to the national Spanish-language curriculum. In contrast, the indigenous model of intercultural bilingual education which is currently being rolled out to the Harakmbut puts indigenous knowledge and practices at the centre of its curriculum, pedagogy and philosophy. This in turn contrasts with the education reform measures currently being implemented nationally through the Ministry of Education. Education could and should be a positive force in the lives of the Harakmbut people, and Harakmbut women in particular, and in their fight against an impoverishment of their way of life.

n the Peruvian Amazon, education is g en er a lly th o ug h t b y pa r en ts a n d education providers to be important for ch ildren s acquisition of key sk ills and knowledge, which will help them later in their pursuit of livelihoods. Schooling is considered to be a key means of bringing about modernisation and economic development. However, there is less concern with what kind of education might contribute to this goal, and what kinds of livelihoods are appropriate and valued by different people. Th e H a ra k m b u t a re an in di g en ou s people who live on their ancestral territory in the south-east Peruvian Amazon. When I first lived with them at the end of the 1970s th ey h a d a m ix ed ec on o m y a n d sem i settled way of life, comprising hunting, fishing and swidden agriculture. At the beginning of the twentieth century, their population had been decimated through dis ea se a n d th e r a va g es o f th e r u b ber boom, and their numbers dropped from

a n es tim a ted 3 0,0 0 0 (G r ay 19 9 6 ) to approximately 1,500 in the early 1980s. From the early 1980s to the present, I have carried out several extensive periods of fieldwork, investigating Harakmbut indigenous learning and bodies of knowledge. I have also worked in collaboration with their indigenous organisation, the Federation of Natives of Madre De Dios (FENAMAD), in their search for educational alternatives (see Aikman 1999a). This paper is based on my understandings of the changes they have experienced over this period and on my insights as a privileged outsider.

Economic poverty and the changing Harakmbut livelihoods

At the end of the 1970s, the Harakmbut of the community of San Jos de Karene were, in addition to hunting forest game, fishing,
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practising slash and burn agriculture, and gathering edible forest fruits and plants. Harakmbut men panned for gold on the b a n k s o f th e r iver s o n th eir leg a l ly recognised and delimited territory, using buckets and a sloping draining board to w a sh allu via l ston es a n d tra p th e tin y deposits of riverine gold dust. During the 1980s, game became more scarce, due to th e g r ow i n g n u m b ers of s m a ll -tim e entrepreneurs who transported landless Andean peasants down the Andes to the Amazon region. These newly arrived workers provided cheap labour in squalid camps on the banks of the rivers, and ever deeper in the forest, where old riverbeds held finite amounts of gold dust. They used slightly more technologically sophisticated goldpanning practices, involving noisy motor pumps and, in some places, diggers and dredgers. Over time, game and birds fled to more remote areas, and severely curtailed Harakmbut hunting (Gray 1986). During the 1980s, when the price of gold was relatively high and the beaches y i elded g ol d-b ear i n g sedi m en ts, th e H a r ak m b u t dedi ca ted m o r e a n d m o re of their time to gold panning. They used the money earned to buy pasta, rice and other staples, as well as tinned fish and occasionally fresh eggs. Women continued to grow manioc, maize and plantains, but other more specialised and labour-intensive crops such as dry rice were supplanted by c om m er ci al p ro du cts bo u g h t ea s il y a t colonists riverside shacks which sprang up th r ou g h o u t H a r ak m b u t terr ito ry . Th e women spent increasing amounts of time cooking at the gold camps on the beaches or deep in the forest, and time for intensive care of their gardens was limited. W ith increasing dedication to gold panning, men had less time to work with the women to f el l a n d cl ear n ew g a r den s ea ch y ea r. When Harakmbut men began to employ migrants to work with them on their gold placers, the women found the labourers refused to eat plantains, sweet potato and fruits from their gardens, preferring to

purchase Andean produce cabbage, dried meat, potatoes and carrots transported at great cost down the Andes. This situation was the result of a vicious circle of demand for money and market goods, which could only be met by continued and intensified gold panning. The gold could be exchanged for money, and also functioned as a hard currency alon g th e south -e ast Ama zon rivers. Throughout the 1990s, the effects of u n der -n u tr i ti o n w ere ob v io us am o n g children and the elderly, as were diarrhoea diseases, tuberculosis, and malaria. Young men either completed primary schooling or dropped out to take part in gold panning, either in their villages or in migrants gold camps, while some young women chose to leave their communities and work as cooks an d cleaners in the same ca mps, or in the growing informal settlements in the region. The impact of ecologically destructive economic practices, such as gold panning a n d ti mb er extr ac tion , h ad s u btle a n d pervasive effects on the status of womens agriculture. Access through gold panning to the money market allowed the Harakmbut to purchase foodstuff, where previously women had produced all that was needed to complement the meat and fish brought in by the men. Senior women with large and numerous gardens ceased to cultivate quantities of manioc to make masato beer, since bottled lager, which men now drank, could be bought at every river bank stall. Young women growing up through the 1980s and 1990s did not have the time or the incentive to work with their elders and lea rn a b out th e diver si ty of cro ps a n d types: the 17 different types of pineapple, ea ch w i th a diff er en t co lo u r, tas te or texture; the different types of sweet potato and manioc, which were suited to different soils and resistant to different pests and predators; the chants and songs to protect seeds as they were being planted; and the rituals and myths to ensure that the spirits of the forest helped the crops grow.1

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Womens knowledge is oral, and it is personal. It is not public, written down in a book for anyone to read should they want to. Instead, it belongs to the individual women, who, over their lifetimes, have b u i lt u p th eir k n ow l edg e an d u n der standing of the environment, the crops and the spirit wo rld. This is their w isdom, w h i ch th ey u sed to pa s s o n to th eir daughters an d granddaugh ters as they grew up. But this is not happening as it u sed to. N ow th ere is less dem and for womens garden produce, and their status as agriculturalists, gardeners and guardians o f b io div er s ity ar e c o n si dered l es s important than the ability to pan gold and exchange it for hard currency. Womens complex understandings and knowledge are valued less. As the women themselves get drawn into the new economic activities and roles, they are ceasing to cultivate their rich diversity of crops, and knowledge of h ow to cultivate these is disappearing. They find themselves in a new dependency on men for access to money, with which to buy the products pasta, rice and maize flour which they use in place of their garden produce.

Educational poverty and the growth of ignorance

The Harakmbut have welcomed formal education in the shape of primary schooling in their communities since the 1950s, and, m or e recen tly, secon dary sch ool ing in mission stations and urban centres. These forms of education are seen to provide access to new bodies of knowledge and sets o f s k il ls ; i n pa r tic ul a r, to th e S p a n is h language, which the Harakmbut need for th e i n cr eas i n g ly co m p lex i n ter a cti on s they have with colonists, representatives of local and national government, and other indigenous peoples. However, schooling with a Spanish-language national curriculum is taught predominantly by Dominican lay-missionaries.

While gold production was becoming a more entrenched part of the Harakmbut way of life through the 1980s, there was also growing access to formal communitybased primary schooling. For some years th ere w er e h ig h r a tes o f dr op o u t an d attrition, especially amongst girls. But by th e m id- 19 9 0 s, g i rl s w er e n o t o n ly completing six years of primary schooling, but often out-performing boys. Much of this success, which has been documented in the community of San Jos (Aikman 1999a), can be attributed to the tireless efforts of tw o tea c h ers . Th e l a tter l ob b ied an d chivvied parents to send their children to school, using their powerful positions as lay-missionaries. Success in primary school, however, is measured in terms of the attainment of narrow literate academic education, which p ro vi des few p ra cti ca l outcomes for Harakmbut students. Students successfully completing primary schooling in San Jos were groomed for more schooling and by the early 1990s many Harakmbut students were leaving home to attend missionary boarding secondary schools. Girls board u n der th e s tr ic t co n tro l o f D om i n ic an m is s io n a ri es, a n d a r e h eld i n vi r tu a l confinement behind convent walls. The teach ing that these s chools p romote is m ostly ca rried ou t in ign ora nce of th e knowledge children develop in their home environment. Girls growing knowledge of biodiversity an d ag ricultu ral practices remain beyond the bounds of the school and the teachers, whose ignorance amounts to another pernicious influence on girls and womens status and knowledge. With increased participation in schooling, girls (and boys too) have less time to spend with their elders, less time to participate in agricultural activities, less time to learn about the intimate spiritual links between crops, their growth and th e nutritional well-being of the community. Harakmbut children learn from their elders, from the spirit world, and experientially. Children

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learn by doing in the safe presence of elders and kin, who guide and support. Learning also takes place through listening to elders and interacting with the spirit world.2 By contrast, school educators teach and preach in a way which strengthens existing u nequa l econom ic, politica l a nd social r el atio n s. Th e s ch oo l as an in s ti tu tion functions independently of Harakmbut space and time. Formal education takes place within the four walls of the school b u i ldi n g , u su a ll y th e o n ly co n cr ete, high status building in the community. The school timetable and calendar force Harakmbut time into the rigid strictures of institutionalised learning, and secondary boarding schooling removes pupils completely fr o m th ei r in di g en ou s en vi ro n m en t. Schooling is about reading and writing, faithful memorisation, and obeying teacher authority. While the primary school curriculum is ex cl us i vely foc u s ed on li ter a cy an d numeracy in Spanish, secondary schooling offers a gender-differentiated curriculum. Secondary schooling for indigenous children usually follows a vocational curriculum, which has lower status than the academic curriculum offered in certain urban centres. Agricultural secondary schools aim to p r odu c e pea s an t fa r m ers an d , i n th e Dominican missionary secondary school of Shintuya, Harakmbut boys gain practical experience in the mission vegetable garden where, under plastic awnings, the priest attempts to grow tomatoes, lettuce and other crops not indigenous to the rainforest. Harakmbut girls, on the contrary, spend much of their time outside academic classes carrying out domestic chores, usually in the boarding school kitchens, dormitories and s ew in g - ro om . T h e w ay of l if e of th e b oardin g s chool a nd th e cu rricu lum it promotes, is therefore one that encourages girls domesticity and reproductive work (Aikman 1999b). The agricultural lessons being carried out in the mid- to late 1990s in agricultural

sec on da r y sc h oo ls w ere a d h oc an d ex p eri m en ta l , u n der th e g u ida n c e of teachers with little or no knowledge of the Amazon environment, whose agricultural experience if any was with Andean or coastal crops and animals in Andean or coastal contexts. This curriculum denies the diversity and interrelatedness of womens productive and reproductive activities, and ignores their position as guardians and cus to di an s of the bi odiver sity . O n th e co n tra ry , g en der ed r ol es f ro m oth er cultural and social contexts boys become far m ers a n d g i rl s l oo k af ter th e h o m e an d c h il dr en a r e im p os ed. G i rl s a r e marginalised from activities wh ich th e teachers and missionaries associate with mens work (i.e. agriculture, ph ysical labour of different types and cattle herding) and steered towards home-based reproductive activities. This schooling contributes to a disempowerment of girls and women, and to a new sexual division of labour ba s ed in n o n -in d ig en o us n o rm s an d practices. As Shiva has noted in another context, womens work is often discounted by ec on om is ts b eca u s e of th e l im i ted concept of economics they apply (Shiva 1993).

Indigenous challenges to the poverty of education

The Harakmbut have not been alone in questioning the quality of education. Many of the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon have foun d formal education , i.e. pr im a r y sc h oo li n g , to b e sev erel y impoverished: it is gender-blind, ethnocen tri c, m o n o-c u ltu r al , mo n o li n g ua l (Spanish) and assimilatory (ISP/AIDESEP 1987). At the national level, civil society organisations are also criticising the general qua l ity o f sc h oo li n g th ro u g h ou t th e co un tr y , a n d h a v e co n dem n ed i t a s bureaucratic, authoritarian and irrelevant to most pupils needs (Ramirez et al. 1997). Their directions for change and qualitative

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improvement, however, follow different concepts and principles. In the late 1 980s , th e Ama zon-wide organisation, Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon (AIDESEP) focused its attention on formal educa tio n an d th e n eed to ensu re th at indigenous students received a relevant, quality education which reinforced the principles of the indigenous movement and the struggle for recognition of rights to land and way of life. AIDESEP is an umbrella organisation that brings together indigenous associations and federations, such as the Harakmbut organisation FENAMAD , to lob by n ation ally, reg io nally a nd internationally for recognition of indigenous rights to land, way of life, cultural practices and education. Aw a r e th a t s ch o ol in g w as n o t respecting indigenous values and priorities, AIDESEP began an innovative collabora tio n w i th a g r ou p o f n on -in di gen ou s ed uc a tio n al is ts , a n th r op ol og i s ts a n d linguists. They aimed to develop a new approach to training indigenous primary school teachers. This programme is a reconceptualisation of schooling based on the concept and principle of interculturalism, which recognises cultural diversity as a p o s itiv e fo rc e to c rea te a vi a bl e a n d c o h esi ve so ci ety (A va l os 1 9 9 7 ). In ter c u ltu r al is m i m p li es a cu l tu r a ll y a n d eth n i ca l ly di ver s e s oc iety , i n w h ic h b ilingualism, or plurilingualism, is the l in g u i sti c exp r ess i on of th is s oc iety (Chavez, cited in Camacho 1995, 155). The programme starts from an analysis of indigenous history and social change. It strengthens understandings and valuing of indigenous identity, while at the same time ensuring that indigenous students have the knowledge and skills necessary to participate as citizens in the wider national and global arenas.3 By the early 1990s, the new trainee teachers had produced a new p r im a r y sc h oo l c u rr i cu lu m . Th i s w a s recognised by the Ministry of Education, and began to be implemented in a limited

range of indigenous schools where th e programmes graduates worked. The Harakmbut have recently had the opportunity to join this programme in its expa ns ion to th e cen tr al a nd so uth ern Amazon regions, with funding from the EU. With the increasing pressures on their way of life, and the slow but relentless undermining of Harakmbut as childrens fi rs t la n g u a g e, in fa vo u r o f S p an i s h , FENAMAD now considers indigenous-run in ter cu l tur a l b i li n g ua l educ a tio n an imp ortan t and necess ary dimen sion of s tr eng th en i n g H a ra km b ut s oci ety an d exercising its self-determination.

Harakmbut selfdevelopment
The Harakmbut want formal education because they believe it offers a means of acquiring knowledge and skills from the w id er so ci ety , w h ic h c an b e u s ed to provide alternatives to halt the pauperisation of their lives. They want schooling to value and positively reinforce learning and knowledge about the Harakmbut way of life, and its beliefs and practices, because these underpin a Harakmbut concept of self-development. They also want their children to access what they see as th e b en efits a cc ru i n g to th e m i g ra n ts an d colonists living around them: access to clean drinking water, participation in the market economy, and other trappings of modern society, such as television. In th eir vision of s elf-developm ent, the Harakmbut reject state-oriented growth m od els a n d th e b la ta n t ex tr a cti on of resources from indigenous territories which threaten the integrity of their physical and spiritual environment. They do, however, recognise that aspects of development can also provide badly needed resources to protect and promote indigenous rights. These include new ways to manage forest resources, new technologies to extract gold du s t w ith o ut th e u s e of m er cu r y , an d

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ma n a g em en t, n ego tia ti n g an d ad mi n istrative skills. If allopathic medicines from th e n ati on a l s oci ety c an cu r e di sea ses introduced into Harakmbut society, such as tuberculosis, they are welcomed. If roads are built so that they do not undermine the lon g-term s ustain ability of in digenous la n ds a n d res o ur c es , th en th ey a re welco med. But first an d fo remos t, th e Harakmbut believe they should have the right to consent to their use or introduction (Gray 1997). Indigenous peoples have been discussing an alternative developm ent based on the ability of indigenous peoples to become self-supporting, and based on their collective rights. Henriksen explains: Too o ften , dev elo pm en t is s een in economic terms. Indigenous self-development has to be seen as a whole, covering many areas. Unless the terms of development are defined by the people themselves, th en th er e i s n o s elf-dev elo pm en t (Henriksen, in Gray 1997, 252). When applied to schooling, this selfdevelopment approach implies an education wh ich respects in digenou s beliefs an d values, and also facilitates the learning of important skills and knowledge, which enable the Harak mbut to interact with w ider s oc iety , a n d m a k e i n for m ed decis ion s abou t th eir lives. Edu cation is i m p or tan t fo r ou r peo p les , s ta tes FEN AM AD P resi den t, so th at w e c an defen d ou r l a n ds a n d n o t b e c h ea ted (personal communication, 1998). But this implies a qualitative and relevant bilingual education, which values the Harakmbut language while providing good skills in Spanish, the national language, and the la n g u ag e o f g o ver n m en t, m edi a a n d bureau cracy . Th e Haramk but n eed the ability to utilise effectively a range of genre to serve self-development ends; for example, in the defence of their lands. They need to lobby government, to give radio interviews, to negotiate with colonists, to write project proposals, and much more (see Aikman 199 9; 20 01). Th e stren gth of th eir s elfdevelopment should come from their own

cu ltu re, h is tory a nd iden tity, b ut al so through alliances and collaboration with indigenous peoples and non-indigenous people around the world. The AIDESEP intercultural bilingual education programme has been established in Madre de Dios, in collaboration with the regional teacher training college and the Ministry of Education. It is focusing on training Harakmbut teachers according to a new curriculum and pedagogy, based on indigenous principles and practices and developed by indigenou s teachers and trainers in the northern rainforest (ISPL/ A ID ES EP 1 9 9 7 ). I n dig en o u s tea ch i n g train ing develops indigen ous trainees understanding of not only their cultural, social and linguistic heritage and practices but also helps them analyse the nature of change in indigenous and national society and their participation in the global society. It is al so b as ed on rig h ts fr am ew or ks : indigenous collective rights (Committee on Indigenous Education 1998) and education as a human right and embedded in the 2015 international development target on Education For All.

Poverty of learning outcomes: national reform of education

Indigenous organisations and NGOs have been struggling for many years now to put indigenous basic education on the national agenda. The expansion and contraction of staff and resources dedicated to indigenous ba sic education within the M inistry of Edu c a ti on o ver th e pa s t f ifteen y ear s reflects a fluctuating acknowledgement of its importance. It is only since the middle of th e 1 9 9 0s th a t th er e h a s b een s tr o n g government commitment to education and a r esu r g en ce o f i n teres t in edu ca tio n . Diagnostic studies carried out in the late 1980s and early 1990s, especially by civil s oc iety o r g an i sa ti on s s u ch a s th e Foro Educativo, have highlighted high rates

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o f gr ade r ep etitio n, drop ou t a nd p oor learning achievement, and the serious need f or atten tio n to qu a li ta ti ve a s pec ts o f primary education throughout the country. Government statistics have painted a bleak picture of poverty, malnutrition and poor living conditions for 90.1 per cent of the r ura l p opu lation (Ram irez et al. 19 97). While enrolment was high, in global terms, the quality and relevance of education was p oor an d, as Ramirez stu dy indica tes, children leave primary school without the competencies to u nderstan d what th ey read, unable to communicate verbally or produce writing, follow instructions or a p p ly w h a t th ey h a ve m emo r is ed (Ramirez et al 1997, 80). And for many rural children, such as the Harakmbut, th i s i s a n edu c a ti on i n a n d th ro u g h a second language with no reference to their maternal culture. While the indigenous analysis of quality and relevance of education in the 1980s led to the development of the AIDESEP i n terc u ltu ra l b i lin g u a l edu c ati on p ro g r a m m e, b a s ed on s elf-d eter m in a tio n a nd self-d evelopm ent, the government a p p ro a ch to edu c ati on a l c h a n g e w a s unco-ordinated and sporadic until the mid1990s. This reflected a lack of prioritisation of education in national policy-making. H o w ev er, la rg e-s ca le refo rm beg a n to gather momentum through the late 1990s, and policies were implemented which were s im ila r to ma n y o th er ba si c edu ca ti on reforms in Latin America over the last two d eca des (To rr es 2 0 0 0) . A m eetin g o f UNESCO and the Economic Commission for Latin America (CEPAL) reported on the need for education for citizenship and to generally improve international economic c om peti tiven es s, by lin k in g educa ti on closely with sustained economic developm en t a n d p ar tic ip a tio n . T h e r efo rm s echoed the discours e of efficien cy an d decentralisation (Camacho 1995). The Peruvian reform process took a constructivist approach to curriculum

a n d p ed ag o g y (s ee a l so To rr es 2 0 0 0) . C o n str u cti vis m is u n der s too d as th e process whereby learners construct their knowledge and understanding through active learning and their active engagement with the social and natural environment. This approach contrasts starkly with the p a ss iv e, di da cti c, teac h er -dom i n a ted approach hitherto promoted in schools. It implies a new focus on communication and a new set of teacher-pupil relationships an d pup il pupil interactions , wh ereby teachers are to be facilitators of childrens lea rnin g, a nd activities are va ried and graduated. This a pproa ch relies heavily on th e ability and willingness of teachers and schools to adapt the nationally prescribed content to local cultural, social and georaphical contexts so that competencies can be acquired through activities which are relevant to the children. However, while tea ch er s a re exh o r ted to m a k e th e curriculum flexible to local realities, the support and training they receive to do this is negligible. When teachers are not from or part of the local reality, it is impossible for them to do so in a meaningful way. Th e n ew C u rr ic u lu m F r a m ew or k fo r Children 2000 (Ministry of Education 2000) a ls o s ta tes th at in ter cu ltu ra li sm (th e defi n in g co n c ep t a n d p r in c ip l e o f th e indigenous AIDESEP programme), is an important part of the Peruvian curriculum. However, it makes no attempt to explain w h a t th is m ea n s, or h ow it c an b e facilitated in the classroom which means that is it most likely ignored by teachers, or at best misunderstood (see Aikman 1999a for discussion of interculturalism). The Curriculum 2000 is part of a reform designed by experts at the national and international level to be implemented by poo rly-train ed teach ers . Kn owl edge is packaged in terms of competencies and lists of w ha t children at diffe ren t key s tag es s h o ul d k n o w a n d be ab l e to demonstrate and by which they can be

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meas ur ed. In con tras t, th e indi gen ous programme begins with the teacher. The curriculum is constructed by teachers and trainers together, through a collaborative an d itera tive p ro ces s. Th e c u rr icu lu m focuses on the interface between different ways of doing and knowing, local, national and global processes and knowledge, and an analysis of the childrens and teachers context. In the national approach, knowledge is u n co n tested, a n d u n ch a l len g ed b y teachers and by students; it is, moreover, usually written and measurable. In the for m er, k n o w led g e is p r ob lem a tis ed, co n tes ted a n d c h a llen g ed, a n d i t is overwhelmingly oral. The national focus is on improving quality through active and child-focused pedagogy, and learning/ teaching processes involved in the acquisition of a pre-defined (and clearly written down) set of competencies. What does this mean for indigenous educa tion and th e H arak mb ut in th eir rapidly changing environmental and sociocultural context? It means that the national educ a tio n r efo rm s h a v e n o s p a ce for indigenous knowledge of the rainforest, of the spirit world, of the biodiversity, of the impact of changes over the last 50 years on the indig enou s so cial, cultur al an d physical worlds. Harakmbut knowledge and skills in managing the biodiversity for future generations lies outside the frame of school knowledge. It is not considered valid knowledge. It was not considered va li d b y th e m i s si on a r ies an d th eir c on ten t-or ien ted edu ca tio n , n o r is it considered valid by the national competency oriented reforms. The momentum of national-level reform is ga th erin g p ace today, sup ported by international policies and funding from multi-lateral agencies such as the World Bank. This seems to be happening at the exp en se of a ser io u s exa m in a tio n o f Peruvian indigenous initiatives, such as th at of th e AIDESEP pro gram me. This indigenous education programme questions whose knowledge underpins the curriculum,

and who decides what competencies and how they should be taught. It strives to devel op a n in ter cul tu ra l aw ar en ess i n c h il dren , an d rec og n i s e th os e w h o s e knowledge is excluded from the top-down education reform process. The national reform is being implemented in accordance with international agendas and demands for measurable outcomes and indicators of efficiency and effectiveness. The indigenous programme, which takes different definitions of efficiency and effectiveness, is struggling to make its voice heard in national debates. And the marginalisation and disappearance of indigenous womens knowledge and wisdom, as we have discussed here with the Ha ra km b ut, co ntin ues thr ou gh ou t many parts of the Amazon.

Conclusion
This article has documented some of the processes by which womens rich knowledge of their biodiversity has been eroded by changes in economic practices, primarily the introduction of gold panning. With increased activity around servicing the gold production, knowledge of crops and their diversity is not being passed on to younger generations. As men increasingly control access to money and to purchased foodstuffs, womens power and status in society as primary producers and decisionmakers has decreased. This process has also intensified through the increased participation of girls and b o y s in fo r ma l edu ca tio n : n o t on l y a t primary school level but, through the 1990s, increasingly at boarding schools far from their home communities. Girls who attend secondary boarding schools are channelled into a narrow concept of home making and domesticity, far removed from their home environment and the sphere of wisdom a n d k n o w ledg e o f th ei r el ders . Bo y s schooling encourages them to venture into what was formerly the female domain of agriculture, but this is a non-indigenous model of agriculture and the farmer.

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F or th e H a ra k m b u t, in ter cu ltu r al b il in gu a l edu ca ti on ap pear s to offer a means of their exerting some control over form al education and its definitions of what is knowledge in order to develop a curriculum oriented to their self-development, inclusion and self-determination. H owever, th e indigenous in tercu ltural programme is struggling for the right to be heard in the face of more powerful agendas set by national elites and international funding agencies. The intercultural bilingual education programme being implemented by the FENAMAD and the Harakmbut has to ensure a strong voice and a strong place for womens knowledge and skills, not only for their self-development but also for the enrichment of education and development more broadly.

References
Aikman, S. (1999a) Intercultural Education and Literacy, Amsterdam: John Benjamins A ik m a n , S. (1 9 9 9b ) S c h oo li n g an d development: eroding Amazon womens knowledge and diversity, in C. Heward, and S. Bunwaree (eds.) Gender, Education and Development, London: Zed Press, 6582 Aikman, S. (2000) Bolivia, in D. Coulby, R. Cowan and C. Jones (eds.) Education in Times of Transition, World Yearbook of Education 2000, London: Kogan Page Aikman, S. (2001) Literacies, languages and developments in Peruvian Amazonia in B. Street (ed.) Literacy and Development: Et hnographic Perspective s , Lo n do n : Routledge, 10320 Avalos, B. (1997) The Modernization of Education Systems: Contents and Issues a s s een i n th e c as e o f C h il ea n an d Bolivian reforms, paper presented at the Oxford International Conference, 1113 September 1997 Camacho, A. (1995) Intervencin, in V. R Ed w ar ds a n d J. V. O si ri o ( eds.) La Construccin de las Politicas Educativas en Amrica Latina, Lima: CEAAL/Tarea, CEPAL-UNESCO Committee on Indigenous Education (1998) O u r C h il dren , O u r F u tu re, dr af t working document presented to the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, Geneva, July 1998 G asch e, J., L. Trapn ell an d M . Ren gifo (1987) El Curriculo Alternativo para la Formacin de Maestros de Educacin Bilinge Intercultural y su Fundamenta ci n An tro po l gi ca y P edag gi ca , Centro e Investigacin Antropologica de la Amazona Peruana and the National Un iversity of the P eruvian Amazon . Unpublished manuscript Gray, A. (1986) And after the Gold Rush? Human Rights and Self-determination among the Amarakaeri of South-eastern Peru, Internation al W ork Group for I n dig en o us A ffa i rs , Do c um en t 5 5 , Copenhagen

Sheila Aikman has worked with the Harakmbut and their Federation, FENAMAD, since the early 1980s and has carried out ethnographic research into indige nous education and intercultural bilingual education. She has a P hD from London Unive rsit y and was a lecturer in Educat ion and Int ernational Development at the Institute of Education before joining Oxfam in 2001 as Education Adviser in the Policy Department. saikman@oxfam.org.uk

Notes
1 See Aikman 1999a for more details of Harakmbut womens knowledge and use of biodiversity. 2 See Aikman 1999a for a discussion of Harakmbut learning. 3 ISP/AIDESEP 1997 provides a detailed dis c us s io n o f th e n a tu r e of th is pr o g ra m m e. See f or exa m p le th e discussion of a Latin American model in relation to th e Bolivian reform in Aikman 2000.

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Gray, A. (1996) Mythology, Spirituality and History, Oxford: Berghahn Books G ra y , A . (1 9 9 7) Indigenous Rights and Developm ent: Self-determination in an Amazon Community , Oxford: Berghahn Books IS PL / AI DES EP (1 98 7 ) Pr o y ec to de Formacin de Maestros Bilinges de la Amazona, Iquitos, Instituto Superior Pedaggico Loreto/Asociacin Intertnica de D esa r ro ll o d e la S elv a P er u an a . Peruana, unpublished document IS PL / AI DES EP (19 9 7 ) Li n ea mi en tos Curriculares: Formacin Magisterial en la Especialidad de Educacin Primaria Intercultural Bilinge, Iquitos, Instituto Superior Pedaggico Loreto/Asociacin Intertnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana

Ministry of Education (2000) Programa Curricular de Primer Ciclo de Educacin Primria de Menores, Direccin Nacional de Educacin Inicial y Primaria, Lima: Ministry of Education Ramirez de Sanchez-Moreno, E. L., S. Sume P o ma , E. C u eto C a b al lero , M ira n da Morillo and A. Miranda Blanco (1997) Hacia una Propuesta de Educacin Primria para el Peru: Alternatives Pedaggicas y de Gestin , Lima: Foro Educativo Shiva, V. (1993) The impoverishment of th e en v ir on m en t, in M . M i es an d V. Shiva, Ecofeminism London: Zed Press/ , Fernwood Torres, R. M. (2000) One Decade of Education for All: The Challenge Ahead, Bu en os A i res : In tern a ti on a l I n sti tute fo r Educational Planning