In the end and for reasons not possible to explain in this blog I had no opportunity to talk to anyone about the specific help needed, how help could be organized.
Indeed the life of the Yawanawá in the villages and settlements along the river Gregorio as described in Nixiwaka’s talks were actually quite different nor was Nixiwaka actually ever called by this name in the tribe but solely by his Portuguese name Joel. Finally the topics I had outlined were not discussed with anyone in the end, though all of them were deeply evident in many unexpected ways. At the end of this blog is my attempt to cover some of them as well as indirectly in the descriptions below.
I hope the blog will do justice to the Yawanawá people living in their so-called territory. I experienced them as welcoming, warm and friendly, hard working and giving, humorous and helpful, trusting. My deep respect and thanks go to all those people (Yawanawá and others) who opened their doors to me as a stranger in their home. It was privileged to be among them, albeit briefly. My great respect goes to one of the key Yawanawá figures, who made me feel very special and honoured, that is Biraci Brasil Yawanawá. His speech (in Portuguese) following my request for a message to the ‘West’ can be viewed at the end of this blog. For now, here is a taster of a brief conversation on YouTube when he participated in a World Social Forum event, I believe in 2012 and also when he was interviewed at the Rio 2012 Summit, which he attended.
The information provided in this blog is based on personal observations and personal experiences on a trip to the Amazon rainforest in the state of Acre in Brazil between 13-24 December 2014. I have tried to inform these observations as much and as objectively as I could using some third party references. However, it is not a scientific study as such, an anthropological or sociological research study. The information should therefore be treated with care and caution by the reader and cross-referenced where possible and double-checked for example by using Portuguese language based sources, which as a non-Portuguese speakers was difficult for me to access, although I refer to them.
I must thank my colleague Susiane Sampaio for helping me with some of the translation, to the Creative Challenge team for helping me to realize this trip as well as the generous support of the University for the Creative Arts. A big thank you to my family for their support and understanding. Thank you to all supporters. And of course a big thank you to all those who guided and helped me in Brazil,cooked for me and accommodated me.Some are featured in the images used for this blog.
For a decent and recent socio-anthropological PhD study on the Yawanawá tribe please consult the thesis ‘Selling “cultures”: The Traffic of Cultural Representations from the Yawanawá’ by André Vereta Nahoum, São Paulo 2013. Of course the story of the Yawanawá is part of larger story,that is that of the Amazon. Susanna B. Hecht, Alexander Cockburn, The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyer and Defenders of the Amazon, 2011, provides an overview of that struggle.
A simple search using one of the internet search engines will find lots media and other references to the Yawanawá tribe, some of them I have referenced in this blog. In my opinion many of them tell stories, some being very liberal with the factual and level of accuracy; others are poignant in their analysis, some are promotional and some are romantic, for example
Example 1
There is also video on Vimeo that explores what the traditional Yawanawá life might have been like in the past and this link shows some nice images from the annual festival . This blog then is an addition to the plethora of observations and information of the Yawanawá tribe. And of course not to forget that social media has not left the younger tribe members untouched, simply see Facebook.
Biraci Brasil Yawanawá explaining to me his work at the original Yawanawá settlement of Escondido.
For a decent and recent socio-anthropological PhD study on the Yawanawá tribe please consult the thesis ‘Selling “cultures”: The Traffic of Cultural Representations from the Yawanawá’ by André Vereta Nahoum, São Paulo 2013. Of course the story of the Yawanawá is part of larger story,that is that of the Amazon. Susanna B. Hecht, Alexander Cockburn, The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyer and Defenders of the Amazon, 2011, provides an overview of that struggle.
A simple search using one of the internet search engines will find lots media and other references to the Yawanawá tribe, some of them I have referenced in this blog. In my opinion many of them tell stories, some being very liberal with the factual and level of accuracy; others are poignant in their analysis, some are promotional and some are romantic, for example
Example 1
There is also video on Vimeo that explores what the traditional Yawanawá life might have been like in the past and this link shows some nice images from the annual festival . This blog then is an addition to the plethora of observations and information of the Yawanawá tribe. And of course not to forget that social media has not left the younger tribe members untouched, simply see Facebook.
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