Promoting entrepreneurship among Indigenous peoples: enabling agency or imposing a development model? The case of the Awajún people in the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract

This doctoral thesis is an interdisciplinary research project that draws from and contributes to academic literatures in the fields of entrepreneurship and development. It focuses on entrepreneurial development initiatives implemented by external organisations, including public institutions and NGOs, among Indigenous peoples. The objective is to understand the dynamics at play during the conceptualisation and implementation of such projects, for project implementors and participants. A qualitative enquiry was conducted, and data were collected through interviews and six months of fieldwork in Peru among Awajún communities. The thesis includes three empirically-focused papers which uncover different aspects of partnerships between Indigenous peoples and external organisations. Paper 1 investigates the persistence of development projects promoting entrepreneurship among Indigenous communities despite project implementors widely recognising projects’ failure. The findings reveal three discourses developed by project implementors to justify failure. The paper discusses how these discourses perpetuate the injustices and inequalities faced by Indigenous peoples. Paper 2 studies the responses of Indigenous participants to projects implemented by external organisations. It reveals that even though projects seek to impose an externally-defined vision of entrepreneurship and development, and that some locals decide not to participate in these initiatives, other Indigenous farmers manage to adapt the projects to fit their agenda. In line with Paper 1, we show how such reactions are often misinterpreted by staff, which reinforces the tensions between the two groups. Finally, Paper 3 explores the link between reactions to projects and the wider topic of the Indigenous approach to “Good Life”. We propose a new conceptualisation of indigenous “Good Life” which acknowledges the heterogeneity and diversity of reactions to external support both between and within groups, avoiding predefined ideas regarding communities’ lifestyles and aspirations that reflect externally-imposed values and choices.