Achuar and Jivaro peoples of the Amazon

Jivaro

People of the Rain Forest

This is a paper that talks about the Jivaro people of the South American rain forest. There are four references used in this paper.

There are many different tribes living throughout the world today. It is interesting to look at some of the people living in the rapidly disappearing rain forests of South America.

The Jivaro

There is a tribe of people who live in the South American country of Ecuador known as the Jivaro. These people, who reside north of the Maran n River and east of the Andes, are known for "farming, hunting, fishing, and weaving (Jivaro, 2002)."

The Region and Language

The Jivaros live mainly in the "Morona-Santiage, Zamora Chinchipe, and Pastaza provinces near the Peruvian border (Weil, 1991)." This tribe of approximately seventy-five groups reject all outsiders with their warlike tendencies (Weil, 1991).

This region has limited modern means of communication, but this is quickly changing as more of the jungle is inhabited.

For years, the main means of communication has been through missionaries, during their rare ventures into the jungle. The Jivaros are capable of bilingualism since they not only speak in their native language, but have learned Quechua, which is used by other tribes in the Oriente region (Weil, 1991).

Patrilineal Society

The Jivaro are governed in fatherly manner that provides for their needs, while denying them responsibilities and rights, known as a patrilineal society (http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entries/97/p0109700.html).The head of the family is the community leader and many times is the religious authority (Weil, 1991).

The family group consists of 15 to 20 people living in a large, communal house that is so isolated from others (Jivaro, 2002) that it generally takes one to two days to walk from one community to another. The communities will join each other in times of war, but fiercely maintain their political independence (Weil, 1991).

Life in One House

The oval-shaped house where the entire extended family lives is built with a thatched roof and sapling walls and is made to resist attacks. The males live in one end of this house, while the women and children stay in the other side. The settlement will move approximately every six years as the soil's nutrients are depleted, forcing them leave one house and build another (Weil, 1991).

Survival

Agriculture plays a major role in the lives of the tribe. The Jivaro are proficient farmers who grow crops such as cotton, tobacco, fruits and vegetables (Weil, 1991). This tribe differs from the other groups who live in the jungle by raising domestic animals like cattle, chickens and guinea pigs. Besides farming, the Jivaro hunt, fish and gather many of the wild plants that grow in the forests as way to survive.

Craftsmanship

The males in the tribe are responsible for spinning and the highly developed art of basket weaving, while the task of producing ceramics falls to the women. The entire tribe is involved in making the many weapons needed for warfare and hunting, such as "lances, spears, shields, blowguns, fishnets and fishhooks (Weil, 1991)."

Head Hunters

For many years, missionaries and government groups tried in vain to subdue the Jivaro, who are feared for "their warlike tendencies and hostility toward outsiders (Weil, 1991)."

Though head shrinking is no longer widely practiced, the Jivaro became famous for this ritual that was accompanied by an elaborate ceremony (Jivaro, 2002). The heads originally were believed to hold a magical power, but as demand for them grew, they started being produced for trophies instead of ceremonial use. This led the government to create tough restrictions on the purchase of shrunken human heads. The government restrictions and a decline in warfare between communities have virtually eliminated this centuries old practice (Weil, 1991).

Religious System

Unlike the other tribes in the area that mix Christianity with their ancestral beliefs, the Jivaro religion concentrates "on a supernatural force embodied in dieties (Weil)." This force, which includes the rain god and the earth mother, gives objects and spirits power. Though there is no real structure in their religion, the Jivora fear gods and spirits and perform rituals as a way to keep them happy.

Marriage, Birth and Death

Most marriages occur when the bride is purchased or the groom works a short time for his future father-in-law. Most communities prefer the practice of cross-cousin marriage. If the husband dies first during the marriage, the women must marry his brother.

When a woman is giving birth, she is kept away from all others to prevent contamination of the tribe.

Once the baby is born, both the mother and father must follow certain tribal restrictions to protect the child from being harmed. Many experts disagree on whether puberty rites are still performed (Weil, 1991).

When a person dies, they are "placed in a hollow log coffin and left in a specially built hut, along with a supply of food and water that is supposed to last for two years (Weil, 1991)."

Christian missionaries have been attempting to educate the tribe in the practice of earth burials, and lately this method has become more widespread throughout the communities.

Saving Their Culture

In the sixteenth century, before the conquest of the Spaniards, the number of tribesmen was over 200,000. By the mid-twentieth century, the number had dwindled to less than 80,000, due to disease and abuse from rubber gatherers (Weil, 1991).

The Jivaro now face a new crisis, the "destruction of their culture (Weil, 1991)." In the Oriente region of Ecuador, where the tribe resides, the "cultural contrast between whites and Indians is the most pronounced (Weil, 1991)." As the white civilization moves further into the lands occupied by the tribe, the Jivaro are forced deeper into the jungle in an effort to preserve their tribal identity.

Since the government is doing little on the behalf of these people, there may soon be no place for these tribes to hide, forcing them to adjust to the lifestyles of the white culture.

The Jivaro Today

The Jivaro, who prefer to be called Shuar Indians, are caught between the cultures of the past and the encroaching modern civilization.

Some of the problems they are dealing with on a daily basis include deciding whether "a new, paved road to the outside world (Hemphill 03)" will help the tribe or destroy them.

The tribe feels roads would enable them to take their cattle of market and buy needed supplies, but are concerned, because the roads bring white men who destroy the jungle. They have also discovered when the white men enter the jungle, they marry the native women or turn them in to prostitutes, putting the future of the tribe at risk. Most of the Indians who venture out of the jungle, quickly return, preferring the culture of their ancestors.