Jun

3

Still Native.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

June 3, 2008 |

amazon.jpgThe idea that there are still uncontaminated indigenous people anywhere in the world can be pretty staggering. The idea that many of these people may not have even seen airplanes is even more surprising. And yet, as the BBC is reporting, one tribe in Brazil, near Peru, has been recently photographed. Seeing the airplane members of the tribe apparently prepared to attack it. The report includes this statistic: “More than half the world’s 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru and campaigners say many face threats to their land from illegal logging.” It’s not just rainforests that are threatened by logging; it’s not just unique species of plant and animal. People who have had little or no contact with the outside world are also in danger.

Several years ago I read a book of folk tales called Barbecued Husbands. Collected by anthropologist Betty Mindlin, whobarbecue.jpg was inspired by the work of Claude Levi-Strauss, it’s a great collection of stories from tribes in the Rondonia state of Brazil, including the Macurap and Jabuti tribes. Very roughly told, they often end abruptly, but they’re hilarious stories. Usually all they are is just stories; with a few exceptions they don’t explain anything, although one story does explain lightning (it’s the horns of a deer carrying his sister to safety). They’re also heavy on sex, reflecting cultural taboos, and sometimes downright weird–like people who are so greedy their heads go flying around and eating while their bodies sleep.


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