The Jivaro people of Ecuador's Amazon region

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).

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.

Eco-tourists are now visiting the rain forests, anxious to see the jungle and observe the Indians in their native habitat before it is all destroyed by greedy industrialists.

The tribe they encounter lives without electricity, indoor plumbing, banks, hospitals, television or postal service. Their only contact with the outside would is through a two-way radio at a local mission, chartered planes which land on a small airstrip in the jungle or trekking through the jungle for five days to a nearby village. They do, however, possess an incredible knowledge of the plants in the rain forests.

The rain forests not only recycle a majority of the water in the world, but are home to 70% of all plants with anti-cancerous properties.

Conclusion

The Jiravo were once revered for their fierceness and head shrinking rituals. Today, however, they are being forced from their lands and further in to the jungle by white civilization.

The only way to save the Jiravo and their native habitat is to give the industrialists an economic alternative to destroying the forest with mining and slash-and-burn farming. One method the tribe is trying involves abandoning their isolation from the outside world. They are giving tours of the rain forests, along with allowing others to witness their rituals and cultures. By showing others how they live, the Jiravo hope to preserve their culture for their future generations.