CHAPTER 2
 MARKET INTEGRATION AND LIVELIHOOD SYSTEMS: A COMPARATIVE
 CASE OF THREE ASHANINKA VILLAGES IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON

 Market Integration of Indigenous Groups

 There is a clearly defined tendency in indigenous societies towards integration into

the market economy, while losing traditional elements of their culture especially in those

groups for which the new cultural inputs appear more efficient (Yost and Kelley 1983,

Alcorn 1984, Santos-Granero 1991, Beherens 1992, Rojas 1994, Forster 1995, Santos-

Granero and Barclay 1995, Begosi 1998, Jodha 1998, Warren and Pinkston 2000, Godoy

2001). Market influences impact indigenous societies in many ways such as creating new

expectations for Western commodities, while the opportunity cost of labor and

commodity prices increasingly push villagers to become more involved in the market

oriented production-consumption cycle. The Ashaninka, the largest native indigenous

group that inhabits the Peruvian Amazon, have also experienced increased relations with

the global economy over the years. Indeed, Santos-Granero and Barclay (1995) reported

that even in the sixteenth century, market forces were more effective than the military

and the church in colonizing the Ashaninka people.

 Indigenous societies become involved in commodity exchanges as a means to

obtain products not available locally ( Sierra et al. 1999). Godoy (2001) identified four

indicators of indigenous engagement in the market: (1) portion of the harvest of selected

annual crops sold; (2) earnings from wage labor; (3) value of credit received; and (4)

total cash received from the sale of goods and services. Godoy (2001) also described the