J Lat Am Caribb Anthropol. 2024;1–10. © 2024 American Anthropological Association.  wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jlca Received: 11 July 2023 Accepted: 2 May 2024 DOI: 10.1111/jlca.12727 IN FOCUS Cannibalistic exchanges with mountain-ancestors: Moral economies of gold mining in northern Peru Ana Mariella Bacigalupo Department of Anthropology, SUNY, Buffalo, New York, USA Correspondence Ana Mariella Bacigalupo, Department of Anthropology, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 1461, USA. Email: anab@buffalo.edu Funding information Fulbright Foundation in Peru; National Humanities Center; Stanford Humanities Center External Faculty Fellowship; Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Grant/Award Number: NIAS Individual Fellowship; University at Buffalo OIE/OVPRED Seed Funding for External Grants; Wenner-Gren Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 9775 Abstract Campesinos (peasants) and norteños (northerner entrepreneurs) in highland Hua- machuco, la Libertad, northern Peru—reconcile their mining within Andean prac- tices about the perceived sentience and agency of mountain-ancestors (apus). They do so by engaging in two different types of apu cannibalism that are antithetical to each other. I analyze how the conflict between Andean campesino communities who prac- tice small-scale underground mining on the apu El Toro site, and, the Summa Gold open-pit mining company (owned by former campesinos now norteño) also on apu El Toro, reshapes, on both sides, relationalities with mountain-ancestors and capital- ism. I explore miners’ practical moral economies with apus, the local government, and legal authorities to secure economic and political benefits as their worlds are trans- formed by capitalism. I also analyze how the power inequality between campesino and norteño miners shapes these exchanges, their ability to control the limits of extractivism, and the rhetoric around mining contamination. KEYWORDS kin, mining, moral economy, more-than-human, mountains, Peru, relationality Resumen En Huamachuco (La Libertad), en el norte Peruano, los campesinos y los empresarios norteños concilian su actividad minera con sus relaciones con las montañas abuelos (apus). Lo hacen mediante la práctica de dos tipos diferentes practicas canibalísti- cas con apu que son antitéticos entre sí. Analizo los conflictos entre las comunidades campesinas que practican la minería de socavón a pequeña escala en el apu El Toro, y la empresa minera norteña a tajo abierto Summa Gold, también en el apu El Toro, reconfigura, por ambas partes, las relaciones con las montañas abuelos y el capital- ismo. Exploro las economías morales de los mineros con los apus, el gobierno local y las autoridades legales para asegurarse beneficios económicos y políticos a medida que sus mundos son transformados por el capitalismo. También analizo cómo la desigualdad de poder entre mineros campesinos y norteños determina estos inter- cambios, su capacidad para controlar los límites del extractivismo y la retórica en torno a la contaminación minera. PALABRAS CLAVE Minería, relacionalidad, montañas, abuelos, más que humanos, economía moral, Perú INTRODUCTION Campesinos (peasants) and norteños (northerner entrepreneurs) in Huamachuco, la Libertad, in northern Peru reconcile their mining within Andean practices about the perceived sentience and agency of mountain-ancestors (apus) by engaging in two