Share

33-4 (Winter 2009) Showdown in Peru

Another Way of Envisioning the World

Luz María de la Torre Amaguana is an Otovalo Kichwa woman who, in her native Ecuador, is something of a rarity: an Indigenous academician whose research, writing, and teaching are informed by her unique perspective as an Indigenous woman. She earned her master’s degree in political science at FLASCO (Ecuador), and her undergraduate studies were in applied linguistics, specifically bilingual education. She worked at the now-defunct Field Study School in Ecuador of the Program of Latin American Studies at Arizona State University.

Visitation Rites

For some of Embera People, ethnotourism offers a last economic lifeline.

The Darien, which encompasses the border region between Panama and Colombia, used to be one of the least accessible places on earth and a refuge for the region’s Indigenous Peoples. Then came the Pan American Highway, conflict in Colombia, and Panama’s insatiable hunger for development.

Aftermath

The 2008 earthquake in China's Sichaun Province caused massive damage and held the world's attention for weeks. But little attention was paid to the region's Indigenous Peoples. Here is a look at how they are coping in the wake of the quake and their attempts to survive the recovery effort.

[img_assist|nid=8870|title=|desc=A Qiang woman stands amidst rubble and construction materials in a small village in the outskirts of Wenchuan. Her hands and clothes are colored gray from dust as she works with concrete and moves bricks, stones, and tiles.

Under The Guns

In June 2009, the world was made dramatically aware of Amazonian Indigenous Peoples’ issues as police in Peru opened fire on peaceful Native demonstrators who had blocked roads. The roads were obstructed to protest President Alan García’s move to accommodate the U.S. Free Trade Agreement by giving logging, mining, and other concessions to industries on Indigenous territories in the Amazon.

Eyes of the Forest

GuaranaGuaranaFor the Indigenous Peoples living in the dense forests between the Rio Tapajós and the Rio Madeira in Brazil, the seeds of the plant known as guaraná are the cornerstone of their culture. For centuries, tribes like the Sateré Mawé and the Guarani have selectively bred and carefully cultivated Paullinia cupania to produce the most potent seeds.

Sand Script

Walking Thunder: Walking Thunder demonstrates the delicate and precise technique needed to make a sand painting. Photo by Larry Lindahl.Walking Thunder: Walking Thunder demonstrates the delicate and precise technique needed to make a sand painting. Photo by Larry Lindahl.

Walking Thunder is a Diné medicine woman. She recently gave a talk at the Ringing Rocks Foundation about her people’s spiritual traditions and particularly about sand painting as a healing tool. The article that follows was adapted from that talk.

Culture Warriors

Flying Fox by Arthur Koo'ekka PambeganFlying Fox by Arthur Koo'ekka PambeganIn the fall of 2009, the Katzen Gallery at the American University Museum in Washington featured an exhibit of Aboriginal art called Culture Warriors. This traveling exhibition originated at the National Gallery of Australia as part of the Australian Indigenous Art Triennial.

The Eyes of the Forest

For the Indigenous Peoples living in the dense forests between the RioTapajós and the Rio Madeira in Brazil, the seeds of the plant known as guaraná are the cornerstone of their culture. For centuries, tribes like the Sateré Mawé and the Guarani have selectively bred and carefully cultivated Paullinia cupania to produce the most potent seeds. In the local language “guaraná” translates as “the beginning of all knowledge.”

The Year in Review: A Message from the Executive Director

On March 6, 2009, the New York Times reported that two prominent Kenyan human rights activists, Oscar Kamau Kingara and John Paul Oulu, were shot and killed at close range while their car was blocked in heavy traffic in Nairobi. What the Times didn’t report was that the two men were en route to a human rights meeting where they were to report on persistent Kenyan police brutality and impunity that victimizes the Indigenous Samburu among other Kenyans.  

Syndicate content

Cultural Survival helps Indigenous Peoples around the world defend their lands, languages, and cultures as they deal with issues like the one you’ve just read about.

Learn More

To read about Cultural Survival’s work around the world, click here. To read more articles on the subject use our Search function and explore 40 years of information
on Indigenous issues.

Do More

For ways to take action to help Indigenous communities, click here.

Donate

We take on governments and multinational corporations—and they always have more resources than we do—but with the help of people like you, we do win. Your contribution is crucial to that effort. Click here to do your part.