Ethnography of the politics and socials boundaries in the Western Amazon: Brazil, Peru and Bolivia

Abstract

Local populations assert or reject political and administrative demarcations, in the border areas of national States, through different practices and representations. Processes of social interaction, both between States and local populations, provide a better understanding of the discursive meaning of the political border and social boundaries. This paper analyses how these two kinds of boundaries overlap, complement one another or clash, by examining the areas of Assis Brasil (Brazil), Iñapari (Peru) and San Pedro de Bolpebra (Bolivia), situated on the triple border in the south-west of the Amazon; a transnational area from an economic and social perspective, characterised by its ethnic and cultural diversity.