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Peru: Another “uncontacted tribe”?

Published on September 30, 2007 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, Latin- and Central America, Native American, Us and Them

“Ecologists have photographed a little-known nomadic tribe deep in Peru’s Amazon, a sighting that could intensify debate about the presence of isolated Indians as oil firms line up to explore the jungle”, the Vancouver Sun writes. But Suzanne Oakdale, an anthropology professor at the University of New Mexico, does what an anthropologists should do and corrects popular assumptions about “the others”.

She said:

“Often, ‘uncontacted tribes’ means uncontacted by a government institution, but the groups have long and complicated histories with other people.”

Oakdale is (among others) the author of I Foresee My Life: The Ritual Performance of Autobiography in an Amazonian Community.

From Stone Age to 21st century – More “fun” with savages

Anthropologists condemn the use of terms of “stone age” and “primitive”

“Good story about cannibals. Pity it’s not even close to the truth”

"Ecologists have photographed a little-known nomadic tribe deep in Peru's Amazon, a sighting that could intensify debate about the presence of isolated Indians as oil firms line up to explore the jungle", the Vancouver Sun writes. But Suzanne Oakdale, an…

New website helps save Kenai Peoples language (Alaska)

Published on August 28, 2007 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Arctic / Northern Regions, culture traditions, internet, language, Native American, technology, websites

Their language is nearly dead. Maybe a new website can revitalize Kahtnuht’ana Qenaga: The Kenai Peoples Language in Alaska? For more than two years, the two anthropologists Alan Boraas and Michael Christian have taken pictures, navigated through HTML and digitized old audio recordings of Native writer Peter Kalifornsky in order to present vocabulary, grammar, stories and place names in an interactive Web site that went live last month, the Peninsula Clarion reports.

“I hope people of all ages go to it and gain insights into both the language and the culture,” Boraas says. This project is the latest in the Kenaitze Indian Tribe‘s endeavor to revitalize their Native language. Finding people who actively speak the Dena’ina language is one of the most difficult parts of revitalizing it. The credit for much of the Dena’ina revitalization goes to James Kari, who spent 30 years working on a dictionary.

>> read the whole story in the Peninsula Clarion

>> visit the website Kahtnuht’ana Qenaga: The Kenai Peoples Language

Knowledge Fades As Africa Languages Die

Modern technology revives traditional languages

Saving native languages

Inuit language thrives in Greenland

Book review: Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World

Their language is nearly dead. Maybe a new website can revitalize Kahtnuht'ana Qenaga: The Kenai Peoples Language in Alaska? For more than two years, the two anthropologists Alan Boraas and Michael Christian have taken pictures, navigated through HTML and digitized…

Infanticide: “We are fighting against anthropologists”

Published on June 22, 2007 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, ethics, Latin- and Central America, Native American

Babies born into some Indian societies in the Amazon are being buried alive, a practice that is being covered up by the Brazilian authorities and anthropologists “out of respect for tribal culture” according to the Telegraph. “We are fighting against doctors and anthropologists who say we must not interfere with the culture of the people”, Marcia and Edson Suzuki founder of a campaign group called Atini – Voice for Life.

Sounds quite unbelievable that one can justify killing humans this way. But the Telegraph quotes anthropology professor Erwin Frank from the Federal University of Roraima State in the Amazon who says: “This is their way of life and we should not judge them on the basis of our values. The difference between the cultures should be respected.”

Some societies consider that if a child has any deformity or disability, it does not have a soul and so – as an animal – should be killed. ~~According to Dr Marcos Pelegrini, a doctor working in the Yanomami Tribe Health Care District, 98 children were killed by their mothers in 2004 alone.~~

According the comment below, Marcos Pelegrini never has given this information

>> read the whole story in the Telegraph

The Culture Struggle: How cultures are instruments of social power

Babies born into some Indian societies in the Amazon are being buried alive, a practice that is being covered up by the Brazilian authorities and anthropologists "out of respect for tribal culture" according to the Telegraph. "We are fighting against…

Bolivia: More and more indigenous influence on politics

Published on August 27, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, Latin- and Central America, Native American, politics

President Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous head of state, is holding up indigenous values of common ownership and consensus decision-making as a model for his country, the Miami Herald / Latin American Post reports. Morales frequently spells out what he sees as the differences between indigenous and traditional governments:

“For the leaders of the indigenous communities, their democracy is of consensus,” he said during a speech in Sucre, the country’s traditional capital. `”There are no majorities and minorities. Majorities and minorities are a democracy imposed on our country.”

(…)

His speeches are full of phrases from the Aymara and Quechua languages, which more than 34 percent of Bolivians speak. He’s refused to wear a suit and tie at official functions, opting for a casual brown jacket adorned with indigenous designs.

Even the playing of the national anthem at ceremonies has been revamped. At the opening of a constituent assembly earlier this month at which delegates are to rewrite the country’s constitution, thousands waited in the blazing sun while a choir sang the anthem in Spanish, Aymara, Quechua and Guaraní, another Indian language.

>> read the whole story in the Latin American Post

MORE ON EVO MORALES AND BOLIVIA:

Evo! (Savage Minds, 19.12.05)

Morales Predicts 500 Years of Indigenous Rule (IPS, 23.1.06)

BOLIVIA: Indigenous President Chalks Up Impressive Early Results (IPS, 31.7.06)

BOLIVIA: Indigenous woman to lead new assembly (Green Left Australia, 9.8.06)

Bolivia Begins to Rewrite Constitution (Washington Post, 6.8.06)

An indigenous revolution brings hope to Bolivia (rabble.ca)

Coca, Land and a Farmers’ Market Provide Hope, Not Long-Term Solutions in Chulumani, Bolivia (Upsidedownworld.org, 22.8.06)

Current news from Bolivia (Globalvoices)

President Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous head of state, is holding up indigenous values of common ownership and consensus decision-making as a model for his country, the Miami Herald / Latin American Post reports. Morales frequently spells out what he…

AAA: “Expanding willingness among anthropologists to listen to Native peoples”

Published on December 8, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, Native American

For decades, a stereotypical and frequently inaccurate mindset dominated the way anthropologists and museum curators treated Native Americans in research and exhibits. But several attendees on this year’s American Anthropological Association conference noted an expanding willingness in the field to pay attention to the voices of Native peoples in the development of new museum exhibitions and in the evolution of older ones, according Inside Higher Education.

Bruce Bernstein, the National Museum of the American Indian’s assistant director for cultural resources said: “I think that people are largely enlightened now,” said Bernstein. He recalled that while presenting similar ideas on American Indian voices within museums at an American Anthropological Association conference in the early 1990s, “the crowd was not pleased.”

He adds:

“If, as anthropologists, we’re really looking to work with people — to understand them better — then repatriation [of objects] is really the best thing that ever happened for museums. It puts them in one-to-one contact with the very people that they want to be in contact with and generate information about.”

Has the dialogue sometimes gone too far, Native Indians taken over the control? Elizabeth M. Brumfiel, president of the association, says why Indians still need anthropologists:

“There’s been a lot of dialogue by Native Americans, asking ‘Why do we need anthropologists to speak for us? We can speak for ourselves,’. I think that’s a legitimate question, but I think there’s an answer to it. Nobody — including anthropologists — see themselves objectively. People benefit from dialoguing with an outsiders point of view. If anthropologists are outsiders, that’s also good for Native people to be in dialogue with them. It’s also good for anthropologists.”

>> read the whole story