ecofem.indi · Indigenous women, nonhuman world and gender: Comparing the Amazon and Siberia

Indigenous women, nonhuman world and gender: Comparing the Amazon and Siberia

The overall purpose of the project was to investigate the relations between Indigenous women and the non-human world, with particular attention to women’s traditional ecological knowledge, their ontological relations with animals, landscapes, and other non- human beings, and the extent to which this knowledge affects their status, prestige, and decision-making roles within their households and communities. The project addressed an important gap at the intersection of environmental anthropology, ecofeminism, multispecies ethnography, and political ontology by examining how women’s relations with the environment have often been reduced in the literature to care, subsistence, and vulnerability, while their roles as ecological experts, knowledge holders, and active participants in environmental struggles have received less sustained comparative attention. The project was designed as a comparative and interdisciplinary study across two Indigenous field sites in the Colombian Amazon and northern Mongolia (South Siberia), both of which are central to anthropological debates on animism, personhood, and human– non-human relations, and both of which are experiencing pressure from extractive industries and environmental transformations The project had two main objectives. The first objective was to understand women’s relations with the non-human world, including animals, sacred landscapes, and traditional forms of knowledge, and to examine whether women and men perceive these relations differently. The second objective was to explore whether women’s ecological knowledge contributes to greater status, prestige, or authority within their household and community. By combining qualitative ethnography with participatory and visual methods, the project aimed to produce knowledge that is academically rigorous and relevant beyond academia. It highlighted the gendered dimensions of animism and environmental relationships, showing that Indigenous women often maintain deep spiritual connections with the non-human world and that these relations can support roles such as healers, knowledge holders, and spiritual leaders within their communities. The project is expected to contribute to broader debates on gender equality, Indigenous knowledge, and environmental justice by challenging simplified portrayals of Indigenous women. It shows how women’s ecological expertise shapes social life, decision-making, and collective responses to environmental pressure.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union