ABSTRACT
Love, and the principle of unrestricted generosity through which Love finds expression, are essential components of Amuesha social and power relations. Power is legitimate only when its holders are seen as loving, compassionate and generous life-givers. The infringement of personal autonomy in the fields of labour, authority and sex, together with the taking of life, are, on the contrary, characteristic of illegitimate power. The myth of Monpella is a myth about generosity, love and compassion; about kinship duties and solidarity; and about the complementarity of the sexes in marriage and child-rearing. Marriage amongst the Amuesha is not marked by a formal ceremony, although in the past, when marriages were usually arranged between parents while their children were still young, the marriage arrangements were formal occasions with binding power. First marriages amongst the Amuesha are quite unstable affairs.
