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The fight against logging and for demarcation of the Terra Indígena led to important transformations in the social and political organization of the Ashaninka of the Amônia. Since the beginning of the 21st century the majority of the indians have altered their settlement patterns, traditionally dispersed along the banks of rivers and stream, and have come together in a community. This change has affected the internal political organization. New institutions such as the cooperative and the school have been created in response to indigenous demands and now occupy a central role in the social life of the indians.

With the creation of the Apiwtxa association the new leaders who emerged during the struggle for demarcation of the land have become the mediators between the Ashaninka and the various indigenous support organizations (Funai, NGOs, the state government, etc.) and are today defining the course of inter-ethnic policies.

These changes in internal politics and the social organization of the Ashaninka of the Amônia are a result of external factors, but also reveal the dynamism and creativity of the Ashaninka society itself which has incorporated these new models by re-interpreting its traditional social structure. Thus for example, the establishment of the Apiwtxa village brought together various families around Antônio Pianko, but the pattern of settlement remained organized into small domestic groups. Similarly the new leaders occupy a privileged position in policies on inter-ethnic contacts, but do not substitute the mechanism of traditional ‘chieftaincy’ whose attributions are also limited and ensure the liberty of each family.

With its traditionally dispersed pattern of settlement, Ashaninka social organization is very flexible. The social unit is the nuclear family, generally composed of the husband, wife and children. Such nuclear families may group themselves around the oldest male (a father or grandfather) constituting a domestic group. These small groupings of houses are generally made up of one to six nuclear families linked by relations of affinity and consanguinity. Domestic groups are marked by a high degree of reciprocity and economic cooperation among the different nuclear families, such as working together in the swidden gardens and the sharing of game. They may be considered as the largest stable political unit in Ashaninka society (Weiss 1969: 40).

A set of domestic groups may come together under the influence of a ‘chief’ in order to form what the Ashaninka call nampitsi and what Mendes defines as a ‘political territory’ (Mendes 1991: 26). The size of the nampitsi is very variable and its boundaries are not always well defined. Domestic groups that make up these political territories may live distant from each other or be grouped into a community. A nampitsi can also coincide with the boundaries of a domestic group or an extended family. Within it, economic cooperation among its groups is minimal, although its members may come together to take part in collective fishing or hunting activities.

The piyarentsi ritual is the main mode of social interaction within the nampitsi. The status of these political territories is extremely flexible, ensuring at the same time the independence and liberty of its components and internal political solidarity. Various factors contribute to the growth, diminution or breakup of a nampitsi: the prestige of the ‘chief’, death, inter-family conflicts, weddings... The traditional ayõpari system of exchange enables the establishment of alliances among different nampitsi, creating greater ethno-political solidarity than could be mobilized on the basis of historic circumstances and which can extend to other indigenous groups.

It should be stressed that the figure of the ‘chief’ is not always found in Ashaninka society and the institution of chieftaincy, when it exists, also reveals a high degree of flexibility. Where he exists, the ‘chief’ can be identified by the term kuraka (or curaca), of Quechan origin, or by the Ashaninka word pinkatsari.

Among the Ashaninka of the Amônia both these definitions are present. However many argue that the pinkatsari is not necessarily a ‘chief’ or kuraka. The pinkatsari is an ãtarite (‘he who knows’), but a warrior (owayiri), a shaman (sheripiari) or an older man renowned for his wisdom and experience can also be termed a pinkatsari without necessarily being a kuraka or ‘chief’. In this sense we can posit the hypothesis that there is no word in the Ashaninka language to designate a ‘chief’, with the Quechan term kuraka being the only unanimously recognized term to identify this function.