27-1 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 three watch as the horses break into quick canters, inadvertently showing off their forms as they…

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. “Do not give them the fish, teach them how to fish”: This phrase,…

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. In this fascinating ethnography, Paul Gelles revisits the indigenous community of Cabanaconde, located in the lower Colca Valley of southwestern Peru, and explores how two opposing irrigation systems, the…

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. Instead, Tecpan Guatemala’s postmodern content illuminates the existential…

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…

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.…

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 “…

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…

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…

Gold Mining as Subsistence: Ghana's Small-Scale Miners Left Behind

Touted as having as much as 70 percent of West Africa’s gold deposits, Ghana has, for centuries, attracted numerous foreigners seeking to trade and invest in its mineral riches. About one-sixth of the country contains extractable gold, and certain regions hold rich diamond reserves. So even though the face of foreign investment has shifted dramatically in Ghana’s gold-mining industry since the…

Ecuador Elections put Indigenous at the Top, on the Ground

An historical event took place on January 15, 2003, barely noted by speculative international observers. As Lucio Gutierrez took the oath of office as president of Ecuador, and later repeated his campaign promises to eliminate Ecuador's infamous corruption and alleviate its extraordinary rural poverty, international press services focused on the guests at the inauguration ceremony, particularly…

Bicultural Education in the U.S.- An Interview with Ken Pepion

Cultural Survival Education Coordinator Lisa Matthews recently spoke with Ken Pepion about the importance of education for and about American Indians. Pepion is the executive director of the Native American studies program at Harvard University.Matthews: What challenges do educators face when they include American Indian studies in their curriculum? Pepion: Some of the barriers that university…

Awas Tingni Community Sues Nicaragua Government over Noncompliance

The Mayangna (Sumo) Indigenous Community of Awas Tingni filed suit in a Nicaraguan appeals court in January to require the Nicaraguan government to enforce an international ruling that protects indigenous people’s land and resource rights.In August 2001, the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Court of Human Rights found international human rights violations in the Nicaraguan…

A Long, Confusing Day: Bicultural Education the Only Hope for Maasai Students

At the start of each academic term in Kenya, peace becomes a rare phenomenon in many households as both parents and students get hysterical about the overpowering burden of education. This situation is much worse in pastoral areas where 100 percent of pastoralists live. Their way of life, which involves moving from place to place in pursuit of water and grass for their livestock, is totally…

White Banner of Hope: Collaboration Needed to Promote Peace, Sustainability and Cultural Survival

People across the transborder region of the western and eastern Sayan Mountains recognize the sacred white banner (called tsagan hadag in Buryat-Mongolian) as a symbol of welcome, sincerity, purity, friendship, and hospitality. Perhaps a sacred white banner, held high by the antlers of a proud reindeer or the branches of the sacred fir tree, can therefore symbolize the friendship and commitment…

Voices of the Reindeer Peoples

The spring blossomed out over the taigaand scarcely waving the hands, it has so beautified the earth, as all of a sudden spread out a carpet. All trees put on the magnificent attire, that is most wonderful in spring, The birds of passage are flying, And bring their songs on wings. A young reindeer stands motionless, and after finishing drinking is playful again. In spring there brightened up…