Resistance in an Amazonian Community

<p> Like many other indigenous groups the Huaorani of eastern Ecuador are facing many challenges as they attempt to confront the globalization of capitalism in the 21st century. In 1991 they formed a political organization as a direct response to the growing threat to Huaorani territory posed by oil exploitation colonization and other pressures. The author explores the structures and practices of the organization as well as the contradictions created by the imposition of an alien and hierarchical organizational form on a traditionally egalitarian society. This study has broad implications for those who work toward cultural survival or try to save the rainforest.</p>