Wasif Qayyum – 2024 Gerda Henkel Travel Grant (Lima)

Working on Amazon River was once a wish that I first imagined during my first Master’s program in Pakistan. The aspiration stayed with me, growing stronger during my second Master’s, as the Amazon often leads river-related discussions. Thanks to Memory Study Association for providing this amazing opportunity that enabled me to work closely with communities living at the headwaters of the Amazon and the Nanay River banks.
Doing graduation from University of Hull was joyful milestone with an honor of an award from the university. But the real challenges started after that. Job hunting and seeking Ph.D. positions brought wave after wave of rejections. The acceptance of my research at 8th Annual Memory Study Conference in Lima was good news but without funding, it was again a bit depressing as I did not have any funding to go to Lima. Amidst all these challenges and setbacks, I received an email from MSA that my proposal for Memory Scholars at Risk Fellowship has been accepted. After a long time, I finally felt a sense of relief.
The journey started after MSA Conference in Lima. I with my colleague Anukuvi Thavarasa from Sri Lanka joined Institute of Peruvian Studies as Research Affiliates on July 22nd, 2024. We shared our working space with other young Peruvian researchers working on various fields of education, poverty, environment, etc. I travelled to Iquitos‒an Island like city surrounded by Amazon, Nanay, and Itaya Rivers to meet locals living between the rivers for centuries. I found the generations-old bond between the indigenous communities and their nature. A connection so profound that they believe a whole city exists beneath the river where their dead live. While some may call it unsubstantiated, viewing it from there perspective, reveals the depth of their sacred relationship with rivers.

I spent a week fully immersed with the locals living between the rivers in Iquitos, boat rides to indigenous communities along the mighty Amazon and Nanay Rivers, and spent days with them. I conducted 13 in-depth interviews with activists and locals, deeply concerned with preservation of their rivers and natural surroundings, now threatened by illegal gold mining activities. The uniqueness I observed about Iquitos is the transparency in the supply chains goods to the city. Everybody seemed aware of the fluctuations in prices, which rose and fell with the seasonal change of flow of water in the rivers.
Their rivers mean everything to them. Nanay River water is a source of drinking water to the city. Additionally, the rivers around Iquitos are vital sources of income, yet many people have abandoned fishing as a livelihood due to fish either dying off or frequently relocating in response to severe pollution from illegal gold mining. I found abandon fish markets in the Padre Cocha‒ a community living near the city; shows the extent of deviation from fishing to other professions.

The boat rides to the community was a great experience as one can sense the reliance of the city on the rivers. I realized it while talking to the people of Iquitos. While having a discussion with two young university graduates, they repeatedly shared their grievances of pollution in the rivers and fading of numbers of traditions associated with the rivers. The pain in their memories is a driver of their mobilization for the protection of these vital waterways.

Moving on, the stay in Iquitos was getting interesting as I was meeting wonderful enthusiastic people coming to Iquitos to explore and study nature. My four days companion from India- Singhara Vadivel came as a blessing. He travelled with me to the people whom I interviewed and to the Padre Cocha. With his help, I met Iquitos port manager who shared the realty of transport towards and away from Iquitos and how the river flow impacts it.

The story of stay in Lima is really long but to cut it short, rivers mean everything to the indigenous people living there for centuries. They believe that their rivers are in continuous threat because of the developments and illegal gold mining. Everybody in Iquitos I met has some kind of memories with their rivers. Their determination made them unique as recent successful resistance to restore Marañón River and granting it rights.
The journey was full of learning and meeting new people‒dedicated to do something for their rivers. After a rewarding visit to Iquitos, I came back to Lima to stay for two more weeks at Institute of Peruvian Studies, IEP. Our farewell dinner with colleagues from IEP was a memorable send-off, a heartfelt goodbye until we meet again.