The mediation practices of Peruvian Amazonian indigenous organisations

This thesis examines the mediation practices of indigenous organisations in the Peruvian Amazon, combining social movement theory with a media and communication approach. While it started as an open examination of the power dynamics shaping indigenous organisations’ mediation practices, this thesis builds on the concept of the ‘mediation opportunity structure’ (Cammaerts, 2018), which offers a holistic framework to analyse the constraints and opportunities shaping social movements’ mediation practices. Aiming to contribute to the literature on mediation and social movements, and indigenous social movements, it reflects on the interplay between political opportunities and constraints and indigenous organisations’ mediation practices. I examine how, in the Peruvian political context, where indigenous peoples’ rights are recognised and yet continually neglected, Amazonian indigenous organisations have adopted a reformist approach to resistance and developed complex mediation logics in relation to the non-indigenous and indigenous publics they communicate with. Moreover, the study shows that the political opportunity structure of Peruvian Amazonian indigenous organisations strongly shapes their mediation practices, from their production of media content to their appropriations of media to diffuse their content, their interactions with journalists, and, finally, the reception of their content by state actors. Overall, studying indigenous organisations’ mediation practices reshapes the conceptual framework of the Circuit of Protest and the mediation opportunity structure (Cammaerts, 2018), pointing out, for example, the relational aspect of indigenous organisations’ network and the importance of their in-person communication practices, the presence of an audience opportunity structure at the level of their communication with their communities, or of an economic opportunity strongly structuring their practices. Empirically, this thesis draws on twenty-four interviews with indigenous organisations, journalists, NGO professionals, and experts, as well as a content analysis of 223 Facebook posts produced by three Peruvian indigenous organisations.