Speaking and Acting for Many

Abstract

Our analysis of the interaction between forest and urban areas—the latter linked to commodities, education, health care, negotiations, development projects, cultural presentations, and employment—has already provided a background understanding of how indigenous communities need to organize themselves differently in political and social terms. Young people’s ideas show that they want to have better control of their land and resources, and to free themselves from external dominance. In achieving this aim, these communities employ creativity and their own resources. This chapter attempts to give a deeper view of the contemporary dilemmas faced by the Manchineri community and how, in a landscape riddled with difficulties but also opportunities, young people have become involved in taking on responsibilities. I examine power, the creation of alliances, and generational shifts in the roles of today’s spokespeople. In the first section, I explore questions of authority and the contemporary negotiation partners of indigenous groups, and subsequently the issues of responsibility and the intermediary roles and practices that have emerged in a context where the sought-after qualities of the current spokespeople favor the younger generation and, ultimately, the movement of indigenous students in the state of Acre.