17
The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

  • View
    218

  • Download
    2

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

The Bakairí Indians of Brazil

Politics, Ecology, and Change

Page 2: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

2

Ethnocentrism?• Page 9: “I was fortunate in

that my ability to separate my ethnocentric reactions from my anthropological perspective was not seriously tested in the field

• The Indians I worked with were not headhunters, as were the Acuar. Nor did they practice gang rape, as did the Yanomamo. They were not cannibals, as were the Wari’, and they did not have their children ingest hallucinogenic drugs, as did the Jívaro

Page 3: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

3

Modernism, Post-modernism

& Post-colonial literature (P. 13-14)• Researchers set up an artificial

dichotomy between themselves as “scientists” and those whom they study as “subjects” (the “Other”)

• Knowledge is a product of interpretations—it is a matter of who has power & authority

• Post-colonial literature gives voice to those in traditional and “less developed” societies

• “We are now accountable”

Page 4: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

4

Political Ecology (Ch. 2)

• Analysis of factors that shape power relations among human groups and influence relations between these groups and diverse aspects of their environment (P. 18)– (Weak on Slash & Burn ecology)

• Multi-level perspective: – global? – Or grounded in specific histories

& cultural contexts?

Page 5: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

5

“Ecologically Noble Savage” (P. 29)

• “Untouched Primitive”• Napolean Chagnon:

Yanomami as (ahistorical) “Fierce People”

• P. 30-31: Are indigenous people really “guardians of the natural world”?

• P. 48: Role of World Bank in conservation of the rainforest & sustainable development of the Amazon

Page 6: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

6

PART II

Page 7: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

7

FUNAI

• P. 74: “FUNAI’s goal was to accelerate the integration of indigenous people into Brazilian society by teaching them how to use the technology and methods commonly found on farms in Brazil and in the U.S.”

• Are traditional, sustainable production systems a “luxury” that the world can no longer afford?

• Pp. 76-79: Cerrado vs. Gallery Forest• Pp. 82-87: Swidden Horticulture vs.

Industrial Agriculture

Page 8: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

8

Bakairí Kinship• P. 105-110: “Because of the informality

of Bakairí extended families and the absence of any real charge for the groups, I would say that lineages among the Bakarí are absent. This is consistent with what we see in the rest of Amazonia.”

• Distinguish cross-cousins & parallel cousins

• Matrilocal: Iroquois kinship terminology – (patrilineal or matrilineal)

• P. 110: Blood relatives descended from the same female ancestor play a vital role in the organzation of the village; the village is structured...around seven major kin groups

Page 9: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

9

Yanomamo Kinship Chart(male ego)

Iwiapa Pama Ko Kono (younger)

Paigo (older)

Page 10: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

10

Gender Roles

• P. 113: Men’s house (caduete)• P. 118: “Almost without exception,

when Europeans contact such societies, egalitarian gender roles are transformed, and men assume greater control over production and access to key political positions.”

• Pp. 121-130: Economy, politics, use of space, rituals, myths

• P. 111-113: Girls puberty ritual vs. boys ear-piercing ritual

• Pp. 130-135: Vilinta & daughters—an anomaly?

Page 11: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

11

PART III

Page 12: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

12

FUNAI (again)• P. 134: “National institutions such as

FUNAI have promoted and capitalized on cultural differences that exist between the Bakairí and the Brazilian nation-state...Nation states such as Brazil usurp indigenous symbols and use them to distinguish itself from other countries.”

• “Brazilindian”• P. 156: “FUNAI’s commitment to a

philosophy dedicated to the preservation of Indian culture provides a protective shield between the Bakairí and the outside world...a long and placid association...”

• P. 191: FUNAI as protector of Indians

Page 13: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

13

Leadership (Ch. 9)• Impact of Change

– P. 151 Epidemics & population decline

– P. 153 Ecological destruction– New technologies

• Do indegenous people contribute to decline?– P. 154 Demand for trade goods– Exploitation of their own environments– P. 158 Personal accumulation

Page 14: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

14

“Middle Ground?” (P. 155)

• “Fault lines in this middle ground point out stereotypes of Amazonian Indians, so valuable to environmentalists as symbols, misrepresent both the diversity of indigenous cultures and the reality of how they manage their resources”

• To what extent should native peoples negotiate and trade?

• Can a domination/subjugation model be rejected?

• Note: “people from the first world”

Page 15: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

15

Environmentalists

• P. 156: When Xavante fell out of favor, & no longer met Western expectations, they focused on the Kayapó

• P. 180: “They want what they see other Brazilians enjoying”

• P. 178: “Mechanized agriculture provides the Bakairí with food and cash from the sale of rice...” --Good? or Bad?

Page 16: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

16

Indigenous Agency• P. 191: Hegemonic global forces

vs. Indigenous resistance• “They are incorporating alien

elements into their own culture, but have avoided losing their identities”

• P. 200: Cultural construction of identity—XinguanoXinguano as symbol of “real Indian”– Downplays Paranatinga ancestry– P. 201: “Positioning

themselves...Making history is a way of producing identity”

Page 17: The Bakairí Indians of Brazil Politics, Ecology, and Change

17