Plain Language Summary: Stimulating Reciprocity: How Human-Plant Relations Support Indigenous Cultural Revitalization and Stewardship in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

By Joel E. Correia, Justino Piaguage Lucitante,Luke Weiss, Nelly Narváez, Luciano Lucitante, Aníbal Biaguaje, Yolanda Piaguaje, Alicia Suale, Adriano Payaguaje, Esperanza Piaguage, Cynthia Simmons, and Michael Esbach.

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Human-plant relations shed light on the forms of reciprocity in many Indigenous stewardship practices. This article shows how Cofán, Siona, and Siekopai (also Secoya or Airo Pai in Peru) Indigenous Peoples in the western Amazon collect, cultivate, and use yoco (Paullinia yoco) to promote communal conviviality, reclaim once-threatened cultural practices, and advance new forms of collective stewardship to promote social-ecological well-being. The plant’s cultivation and use are deeply rooted in the cultural practices of the Cofán, Siekopai, and Siona peoples, who ubiquitously refer to this vine as “yoco”. Yoco is a caffeine-rich vine that is closely intertwined with the daily life and spiritual practices of many Indigenous Amazonian Peoples, particularly within the tri-border region of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

focus on yoco because it reveals insights about processes of cultural revitalization through social-ecological reciprocity in an era of radical change that threatens biocultural diversity and Indigenous lifeways across Amazonia. The Cofán, Siekopai, and Siona have all confronted violent processes of colonization and dispossession whereby outsiders have moved to the region in search of land for agriculture, to establish and expand oil wells, and eventually to live in the cities that have since emerged. The growth of non-Indigenous populations and related extractive industries dramatically reduced Indigenous populations and territories. Yoco plays an important role in Cofán, Siona, and Siekopai efforts to maintain healthy relations with their territories and among community members. The process during which yoco is often consumed includes recounting stories and lessons that serve as vital pedagogical tools for intergenerational knowledge transmission. Furthermore, and as we describe below, the process of caring for yoco promotes ecological wellbeing within Indigenous territories where it is cultivated. The plant-human relation is thus one of reciprocity where people enact care for yoco while yoco facilitates and strengthens social connection and cultural practice necessary to maintain the plant in a context where forest cover is highly threatened by development.

We want to underscore that matters of land and cultural loss are not unique among Siona, Siekopai, and Cofán Peoples. These are grave issues that dramatically impact Indigenous Peoples across Amazonia, Latin America, and the globe. Hence, while we present a specific case study that highlights effects of extractive development and colonialism on Siona, Siekopai, and Cofán life, we also foreground Indigenous efforts to create more just futures that center their self-determination and grounded practices to enact wellbeing. These local experiences provide important lessons about the necessity of centering Indigenous leadership, visions, and priorities to inform global efforts to support biocultural approaches to conservation rooted in place-based stewardship.