Up the Maniqui river once more
After days of anticipation, our final field journey for this year is finally underway. A nationwide fuel shortage had delayed our departure, but now, with the engines ready, we are setting off at last. For most of our team, this marks our fourth expedition; for Júlia, it is the very first. Over the next two […]
Seeds, gardens and community engagement
After several months looking for women-led movements in the Tsimane’ territory we work, we had the honor to meet a wonderful Tsimane’ leader, J. Canchi. Together, we discussed our projects, interests and hopes. We realized many of our research-based needs and expectations are aligned, so we started planting the first seeds of our collaboration. Quite […]
Weaving knowledge: a women’s workshop on Tsimane’ biocultural practices
We coordinated a second workshop with a lovely group of women in a community near San Borja. This reunion was a continuation of our first one (in August 2025), in which they enumerated the multiple changes that impact Tsimane’ peoples’ land and culture. From the women’s perspective, we discussed such changes—from the decrease of (native) […]
We’re back at the Estación Biológica del Beni!
We’re back at the Estación Biológica del Beni (EBB)! Three months ago, we began our collaboration with the Puerto Belén community, and we are delighted to return and keep building these growing relationships.Together, we talked about plants, fungi, animals, songs, and the beautiful saraij’, the handmade cotton bags woven by women with remarkable skill and […]
Our team keeps growing!
We are thrilled to welcome our new master’s student, Júlia, to our team! She has just arrived in San Borja, and together we’ve already had the chance to visit two Tsimane’ communities, i.e. Puerto Belén and Arenales, where we carried out ethno-biological transects and interviews. These days, we’re preparing the logistics for our next journey […]
Taking our Tsimane’ language skills to the next level!
This week, our team continues its Tsimane’ language training at the Instituto de Lengua y Cultura, strengthening our ability to communicate and collaborate across cultures. For us, learning Tsimane’ is not just about communication, vocabulary and grammar. It’s about connecting more deeply with the ethnobiological knowledge and cultural practices of the Tsimane’ people. This knowledge […]
Wood, water and people
Palizadas, logjams forming when large pieces of wood fall into river channels, accumulate downstream, and eventually block the flow, are relatively common in small, narrow Amazonian rivers with forested banks and slow, meandering currents. When a logjam completely obstructs the river, the resulting flooding can inundate vast areas around it, sometimes causing forest dieback in […]
Across the Tsimane’ ancestral lands – Ixiamas
Jorge, our team’s travelling geographer, has ventured beyond the Maniqui River, the main focus of our research, and is now on a journey across the ancestral Tsimane’ homelands. He recently visited the Ixiamas area in the La Paz department, the northernmost region inhabited by the Tsimane’ people, which has been heavily affected by logging for […]
A workshop about change
In early September we organised a workshop about local perceptions of cultural and environmental change. More accurately put, we held two workshops in tandem: to organise more comfortable discussion spaces there was one workshop with the women of the village, and another with the men. It became very clear from these meetings that the Tsimane’ […]
The house of the IEK-CHANGES Project is now built!
We are thrilled to share that the IEK-CHANGES project now has its home in the heart of the Bolivian Amazon! Built by our Tsimane’ friends using locally-sourced materials such as Geonoma deversa leaves for the roof and Gynerium sagittatum culms for the walls, this house is more than a shelter: it is a space of […]
