Asháninka Architecture

Reflections on dwelling materialization in the Peruvian Amazon.

Abstract

This essay is an invitation to reflect on the idea of space from a perspective other than the Western one, inspired by the worldview of the Asháninka people, an Indigenous group inhabiting the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon. Thinking and rethinking about dwelling and architecture in a context where the notions of house, home, community, and territory intersect (blurring their limits and borders, mingling and generating more diffuse boundaries) can offer the architectural discipline new approaches to design and construction. In this way, I hope to contribute to the revaluation of an Indigenous worldview, specifically from the Central Peruvian Rainforest, by expanding and rendering more sustainable a concept that lies at the very core of architecture: space. To this end, I begin by outlining the problems that arise from the prevailing preference for a Western perspective over other approaches and ways of dwelling, revisiting concepts such as property, intimacy, and domesticity. I then situate the geography and context of the Asháninka people in the Central Peruvian Jungle. Next, I present the relationship between the Asháninka and their environment, based on observations and insights gathered during community visits. Finally, I describe traditional Asháninka housing, its construction processes, modes of use, and the ways in which these dwellings reveal and materialize a distinct way of thinking and living.