Indigenous Peoples and the Refusal of the Market

Abstract

When working with development and interculturality, anthropology, with its long experience of trying to understand the non-Western world, must 1) ask about the universal validity of such terms, especially when they become export products, and 2) bring into discussion non- Western examples that refute, reduce, enlarge or, preferably, dialogue with these concepts. Therefore, this paper presents situations from various indigenous contexts in order a) to show how the canonic definition of development can be inadequate to indigenous experiences involving resources and wealth, and b) to argue that the concept of interculturality can only do justice to its name when it promotes an ecumenism of ideas and practices about the common good, thus dodging fads and ideological premises not always ethnically fair.