Everyday Futures of Riverine Communities in the Peruvian Amazon

As hydroclimatic extremes such as droughts and floods intensify, the Amazon basin is increasingly positioned as central to debates on sustainable futures. Yet riverine communities are rarely included in futures-making processes which are often driven by national and international narratives that tend to overlook hydrosocial relations, emotions, and lived temporalities. This study analyzes how four riverine communities in the Peruvian Amazon – Bajo Belén, Punchana, Tamshiyacu, and El Chino – relate to the future as they live with river rhythmicity. Drawing on 48 storytelling sessions conducted in 2023, we identify three orientations of futures: futures as sacred and unknowable, futures as (im)possibilities, and futures as present. Futures as sacred and unknowable assign autonomy to divine force, foregrounding daily attentiveness to river cues. Futures as (im)possibilities emphasize change, hopelessness, and the recognition that the river may undo their preparation efforts. Futures as present highlight commitments to maintaining peaceful and meaningful lives through ongoing practices. Together, these orientations reveal tensions within everyday futuresmaking and show how riverine communities inhabit the present while negotiating uncertainty about the not-yet.