Between Rivers and Forests: the challenges of being a researcher in amazon Communities

This article addresses some challenges for conducting research in a cross-border Amazon region, such as the Alto Rio Solimoes / AM, made up of nine municipalities, with an area equivalent to 214 thousand km(2). In this reality, little can be said that this locus refers to an object of investigation, since there are human groups inserted many years ago, with many forms of work, social organization, ways of educating, different religious practices, which they maintain despite the influences of the capitalist world. In these Amazonian communities, there are traditional groups that maintained their ways of life rooted in animal and plant extractivism, in the cultivation of the land and in animal husbandry. Thus, this article aims to discuss some theories that help to reflect on the research work in Amazonian communities, as a counterpoint to the positivist views that deny the indigenous and non-indigenous traditions of those localities, considering the practices and attitudes that respect the proper forms of social organization of ethnically differentiated peoples. The research, qualitative in nature, made a meticulous bibliographic survey that allowed some reflections on the central objective of the study. Finally, a critical reflection was raised that we hope can help researchers who want to carry out work in Amazonian contexts. These indications range from the instrumentalization of the gaze, hearing, and writing, to the need to carry out research with an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional perspective.