"Twilight for the Forest People"

Tue Jun 10 18:15:00 UTC 2008

I couldn't open your attachment on my computer.  I'd very much like to.
Can you save it in any other format?

Thanks,
Carol

________________________________

From: Indigenous Languages and Technology
[mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Richard Smith
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 5:42 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ILAT] "Twilight for the Forest People"

Earl,
Very well said.
i thought it might be an appropriate time to share my 
"Missionary vs. Anthropologist" vessel here - as an attachment.
I made it to look like a Peruvian stirrup vessel.
the missionary is of course fighting with his Bible (believed to be the
word of God)
the anthropologist is fighting with his measuring stick(seen in many
photos of artifacts)

By the way, social anthropologists can feel just as indignant as
evangelistic missionaries 
when we question their motives...I suppose each feels they are being
judged unfairly
and yet often each wants to beat the other to the "pie"      

Richard Zane Smith
Wyandotte, Oklahoma

On 6/8/08 10:43 AM, "Earl Otchingwanigan" <wiigwaas at MSN.COM> wrote:

	Greetings Don Osborn et al: The dilemma is not whether to leave
the isolated peoples to their fate or not, the dilemma is the seemingly
inherent nature of humankind's inability to not interfere with anything
that exists in a natural condition.  This peculiarity is easily noted;
tell someone to not touch something, the moment your back is turned,
they will touch it.  As a native person however, there exists a
mentality within certain cultures and groups that has continually
perplexed me.  To cite as to what I have speaks of here, in "my" area of
the Great Lakes, when the first Europeans arrived, they saw the wolf as
part of a grand primeval scheme to prevent the advancement in bettering
their idea of what life should be.  By 1940, the wolf was nearly extinct
along with the wanton clear cutting of the virgin timber.  The Lake
States actually had "licensed" hunters to eradicate the wolf thereby
making "life safe" and to improve the deer herd for the benefit of the
annual deer hunt and hunters so that they can "reconnect" with their
"roots".  Recently, the wolf population has made a comeback, but of
course it now poses a perceived "threat" and therefore needs regulation
so everyone will feel safe on their ATVs and snowmobiles whilst in the
"wilds", not to mention, a few farmers complaining that the wolf might
just kill a calf.  Referencing Don Osborn's "pardon for the dumb
question", rather let us refer to it as a thought incomplete.  It would
seem to me, no peoples ever existed without contact with others,
certainly, indigenous people continually interact with each other.  No
one is isolated.  As to the second part of the question, if that area of
the rainforest is presently "untouched" and these natives dwelling there
have successfully retained their lifestyle, then currently in this
condition how can it "still [be] an area dominated by people from [the]
dominant cultures" save for Brazil or Peru's claim to a "non-discovery",
ah but then the chainsaw, yes!  Regardless of the quaintness of John
Noble Wilford's article in the NY Times, especially written from perhaps
a high-rise, on the plight of these people, it all comes back to the
original theory of don't touch it.  You can now be assured with all the
publicity that these "poor natives" will now need to be rescued and
saved, most of all, their souls, and brought forth to share in the
fruits of what all modern life has to offer, please!  This occurred with
my people, and man, well.....no need to go there, now is there?  After
all, I can speak only for myself. Cheers, Earl Otchingwanigan

		----- Original Message ----- 

		From: Don Osborn <mailto:dzo at BISHARAT.NET>
<mailto:dzo at BISHARAT.NET>   

		To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU 

		Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 7:53 AM

		Subject: [ILAT] "Twilight for the Forest  People"

		FYI... The article frames a dilemma in terms of "whether
to  leave them [isolated peoples] to their fate or to assimilate them
into the  larger world before they are extinguished." I assume the range
of options is  not quite that simple. Pardon the dumb question, but are
indigenous groups of  any sort involved in initial contacts, or is this
still an area dominated by  people from the dominant cultures?

		Twilight for the Forest People

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/weekinreview/08wilford.html

		By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

		Published: June 8, 2008

		The world is closing in on the few remaining people who
live in such remote isolation as to seem not of this world.

		...

		A reminder of their situation came recently with the
publication of aerial photographs of the encampment of a tribe in the
upper  reaches of the Amazon River in Brazil, near the border with Peru.
The pictures  showed a line of neat huts and people looking up at the
small airplane. Two  men, their faces and bodies painted red, raised
bows and arrows as a pointed  warning to the intruder.

		As survivors whose continued survival is very much in
doubt, these last primitive tribes hidden away in the planet's most
remote  reaches pose a dilemma for their would-be protectors: whether to
leave them to  their fate or to assimilate them into the larger world
before they are  extinguished.

		Neither course promises a happy ending.

		If they remain isolated, these populations may cling to
their way of life a little longer. Some have moved deeper into the
rainforest,  away from encroaching loggers and oil prospectors. But the
bulldozers and saws  seem destined to end their solitude.

		If they are removed and survive the exposure to diseases
they have never encountered, it is likely that the unique knowledge and
beliefs that define them, the spirit of their life, will probably slip
away.

		The Brazilian government's National Indian Foundation,
Funai, came upon the encampment as it was making one of its regular
patrols of  the scattered settlements of tribes in the State of Acre who
are thought to  have had little direct contact with the outside world.
The picture-taking  plane had no intention of landing: it was only
checking the location and  apparent well-being of the people.

		Survival International, a London-based organization
supporting the cause of struggling indigenous people, estimates that at
least  100 similarly isolated tribes remain in the world, about half of
them in  Brazil and Peru.

		...

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