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27.1 (Spring 2003) The Troubled Taiga

Xavante Archive Documents Vital Culture

When Pia Maybury-Lewis and I witnessed, more than 30 years ago, the struggles the Xavante in Central Brazil faced to protect their lands and culture, we were inspired to found Cultural Survival. Today, the Xavante have developed a number of projects to promote their own cultural survival. The Wara Collection Project, which we visited in fall 2001, is Cultural Survival's newest Special Project.

U.S. Denies Shoshone Grazing Rights, Threatens Horses

On a crisp November day in Crescent Valley, Nevada, Carrie Dann ambles along her family’s big corral, showing horses for sale to a man from a neighboring ranch. The man, a worker on the ranch and a citizen of Mexico, speaks no English, so Carrie must rely on translation help from a visitor.

The Deadly Paradox of Banado la Estrella

Indigenous groups inhabiting the area of Bañado La Estrella in Formosa, Argentina, certainly know how to fish. Moreover, fish is their favorite food. Yet, they are starving and their children suffer from malnutrition. Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, fish die by the thousands because of badly understood ecological changes.

Review: Water and Power in Highland Peru: The Cultural Politics of Irrigation and Development

Water and Power in Highland Peru: The Cultural Politics of Irrigation and Development is an important contribution to the growing fields of ethno-politics and resource management.

Review: Tecpan Guatemala: A Modern Maya Town in Global and Local Context

Edward F. Fischer and Carol Hendrickson’s new ethnography, Tecpan Guatemala: A Modern Maya Town in Global and Local Context, transcends the boundaries of traditional anthropological case study. They craft neither a romantic story of a victimized Maya progeny nor an esoteric and completely case-specific study.

Review: Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World

Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World provides a comprehensive introduction to globalization for teachers and students and addresses the sources of global injustice. Filled with photographs, diagrams, cartoons, and fact sheets, the textbook is an invaluable aid in understanding issues such as corporate influence on global injustice, the true power-holders over the supposedly unbiased WTO, and the role of the U.S. consumer in promulgating sweatshops and global inequalities.

Reminiscences About the Reindeer Herders of China

Late on a frosty afternoon in fall 1993, we were leaving the mountains of the northern slopes of the Greater Hinggan Range on the back of a rumbling cart, lurching here and there. In one direction the sky glowed red, and in the other it looked like something between rain and snow. A double rainbow arched across the valley behind us—a seal on our memories, locking the scene in the past forever. Nobody said a word. The air was too cold and the wind whistled past our red ears as we concentrated on breathing through our noses.

Peaceful Movements for Justice in Indonesia

In early 1999 the West Province of the island of Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) erupted in violence. Longstanding enmity between migrants from the island of Madura, near Java, and indigenous Dayaks culminated in street battles that continued for months. Some reports at the time couched accounts of the violence in terms of the “wildmen of Borneo,” describing “screaming tribesmen” engaged in “displays of ritual savagery” in areas beyond the reach of Indonesia’s weakened central government.

Hope for the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil

Brazil’s Indians have been mistreated for as long as anybody can remember. At the same time, dedicated defenders have devoted their lives to the Indian cause. The most famous of these was General Candido Mariano Rondon who became famous for leading expeditions through "Indian Country" and making friends with the Indians as he went. Rondon founded the Indian Protection Service, a government agency created for the purpose of protecting, assisting, and educating "wild" Indians so they could take their places in Brazilian society.

Hisparidi Top'tiro on the Importance of 'Ro

The Warã Association works to conserve the 'ró [savannah], which is the source of Xavante power. Dañimite and Simihöpãr¢, spirits that give us power, inhabit the 'ró. Without the Dañimite and Simihöpãr¢, we young Xavante will not have the same strength that our fathers possessed. Our beliefs, our ceremonies depend on the savannah, so it is important for us to let others know [what is happening to the 'ró] and try to conserve it. Many young people who no longer hunt, who don't seek contact with the Dañimite and Simihöpãr¢, are losing their way.

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