Kene which means “design” in Shipibo are the visual representations of Shipibo knowledge including cultural memory, connection to the ancestral land, and healing. This knowledge represents the Shipibo cosmology such as origin stories and the human relationship between the earth such as the Ucayali River which contributes to Shipibo foodways greatly. Reading The Uros People by Valentina Gonzalez, Grace Livengood, Khushi Malhotra, and Sophia-Joe Lunny I remembered the Shipibo people and how they served both the needs of their culture and the outsider tourists. The Shipibo integrate symbols that are appealing to Western aesthetics into their kene textile design such as the ayahuasca plant or serpents. This way they are able to address Western taste and sell these textiles participating in the global market and making monetary gains. The Shipibo kene designs are different than the kene that the Shipibo see. The touristic kene design is more repetitive and does not give away the knowledge systems of the Shipibo. This allows them to preserve their knowledge systems and please the tourists serving both their needs and the others.

Uros also have a similar way of participating in the global world and serving both their needs and the tourists. Gina Lujano Suaña, a Uros woman owns a  local restaurant called Suma Kurmi (beautiful rainbow) that attracts a lot of tourists. This restaurant enables a source of income for the owner’s family and the tourists to try Uros traditional food. She, however, instead of cooking and serving traditional fish such as el acarchi, el ispi, and el mauri uses trout. Trout is a more commercial fish that the tourists are more comfortable consuming than those other types of fish. Also using trout prevents resource depletion of the traditional fish in the Uros diet. This way the Uros can preserve their traditional foodways and also please the tourists by letting them taste their local recipes. As a result, the Uros do not have to be concerned with the lack of traditional fish supply due to increasing demand in the global world by the tourists just like in the case of Totoras. As the interest in eco-friendly water transportation with the use of Totoras grows in the global world the Uros are concerned with its depletion within their communities as it is a significant Uros first food. In conclusion, both Shipibo and Uros have presented viable solutions to respect their culture and keep the tourists visiting them content. Thus it seems pleasing both sides in both cases is possible creating a win-win situation.

 

Unit 6: Waorani

Lecture by

Alara Sever (@/alarasfoodways), Geneviève Lalonde (@/lastgen), Katerina Vyskotova (@/allofus)

Get to know Waorani peoples

Welcome to our blog lecture on the Waorani peoples of Ecuador. “Waorani” has many different spellings and names, such as Huaorani, Waodani, and Waos, but we stick with “Waorani” for consistency. In this lecture, we will be learning about the group’s traditional foodways, first foods, and the meaning these foods hold for their culture. We will also explore Waorani knowledge systems about the land and their worldviews. Finally, we will discuss the effects of globalization on the Indigenous group and their fight against climate change in both their community and on a global scale.

 Let’s get into it! 

 

Waorani peoples are located in the Amazonian region of Ecuador, in between two rivers called Curaray and Napo, with the highest concentration of Waorani located in Ecuador’s Yasuní National Park, which now also serves as a Waorani ethnic reserve. However, their territory encompasses three regions: Napo, Orellana, and Pastaza. These current locations have not always been occupied by the Waorani, but with the arrival of 16th Century colonization, they are believed to have changed settlements.

The Waorani represent a small hunter-gatherer-farmer group that consists of around 2000 people, which are further divided into even smaller tribal subgroups, such as Taromenane and Tagaeri, the most well-known groups. Waorani peoples decided to pursue a life completely isolated from Western society’s influence, in order to maintain their traditional culture (Papworth, Milner-Gulland, Slocombe 2). Nevertheless, they still share a common language called Waorani or Wao Terero (also spelled Waotededo), which is considered a complete isolate, “a language unrelated to any other on earth” (Kane 1). In Wao Terero, the literal translation of  Waorani is “they are true people,” and it carries a deeper meaning. Waorani use this name in order to distinguish themselves from cowodes, meaning nonhumans or outsiders. As we continue and touch upon the history of Waorani, keep this distinction in mind.  As Waorani’s language and its etymology can bring us closer to their world, their food can tell us stories and help us understand who the Waorani really are. 

Brief History

The Waorani have had a large presence on the world stage since their first recorded interactions with the Western world, during the rubber boom of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, and subsequent extractivist activities that required Westerners trespassing into their lands. The first official contact was made around the mid-20th century (Finer et al. 4). Because of the group’s relative newness to the outside world, their ancestral record is highly disputed, and some historians believe the reason they were able to live in isolation for so long was due to the elimination of other Indigenous populations along the Napo River during the initial colonization period in South America. This may have led to populations mixing and becoming what is now known as the Waorani. Another complication in genealogical tracing comes from the high rate of homicides within the group; this point was also used against the group in early recountings of interactions by white missionaries in order to paint a “savage” picture of the tribe. This depiction was further exacerbated at the time of the Palm Beach killings (a.k.a. Operation Auca) of 1956, wherein five missionaries attempting to convert the Waorani tribe to Christianity were killed by the warriors (High 31). However, the Waorani see themselves as prey and react strongly to intrusions because of their fluid connection with nature. For them, there is nothing but predator and prey in nature, and since they are from nature and have remained so, they are not able to see themselves divorced from nature in the way Westerners do. Perhaps because of this, relationships with the state have often been tense, as Ecuador has not shown respect towards the Waorani way of life. In recent decades, due to further involvement with missionaries, many Waorani were converted to Christianity and married cowode (High 43).

Waorani cosmology is similar to that of other Amazonian groups, wherein there is no differentiation between what Westerners would consider to be the spiritual part of themselves and their reality (Erickson 952). For the Waorani, these two are blended together, and spirits live among us, as important as physical beings. 

 

Current State of the Group

The Waorani have been under international scrutiny, having recently dedicated themselves to being strong advocates for Indigenous rights and self-determination, especially because of their geographic context, which places them in a high-extraction hotspot: oil extraction, deforestation, and intensive cattle farming – the Amazon has been the victim of unrelenting development for decades (Etchart 2). Markedly, the illegal extraction of crude oil on their lands has left spills and health risks that threaten not only the health of the group, but of the rainforest’s well-being (Collyns). For example, in 2012, a consultation process with the community for a project development was followed through inappropriately, yet still resulted in the sale of Waorani land for development. In retaliation, the Waorani, with Nemonte Nenquimo as their leader, took the Ecuadorian government to court in 2019 and won, marking a global landmark for Indigenous rights and self-determination. This has been their most noteworthy achievement to date, which is very impressive considering how the group has only made contact within the last 60 years. However, much more groundwork needs to occur. Watch this video of Nemonte Nenquino speaking about land preservation. Transcript included in the video.

Given that Amazonian governments have turned a blind eye to the destruction of the Amazon, the rapid rate of deforestation must be addressed quickly. Because the Waorani are immensely concerned with this issue, they have taken action and are currently mapping their land under the Ceibo Project (Amazon Frontlines). From hunting trails, plants with medicinal or other properties, fishing areas, and other relevant nodes, their GPS-tagged locations will be stored in a library. This digital record will become increasingly important, given that the group is already struggling to find game. Instead, like countless other altruistic Indigenous groups (e.g.: groups in Northern Canada that have given up hunting caribou), the Waorani have replaced a part of their hunting with farming cacao, under the Association of Waorani Women of the Ecuadorian Amazon (AMWAE). This association, which focuses on women’s empowerment, works with global partners to create a source of income that respects Waorani culture by creating crafts such as weaved baskets and cacao initiatives. This allows the Waorani to participate in a formalized market economy that pays them above the market price for their product, whilst allowing them to not be wholly dependent on these revenues. However, concerns are mounting as protein scarcity is bound to increase.

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an enormous pressure on the group, given that they are more susceptible to infection, and if they were infected, the virus could effectively wipe out a whole population of people, given their small size. This would erase their history, as there are currently few written records of the group’s history, knowledge, and other relevant information. Much of this information, as in other Indigenous groups, is retained by elders or other community members. 

This is another factor in tensions the group has with Ecuador. The state’s failure to act on the pandemic has left the Waorani and neighbouring groups at a high degree of risk. Without speaking of the incalculable cultural loss, the disappearance of this group or others like it would result in a loss of knowledge about food cultivation in the Amazon, seasonal animal behaviour, and paths, and would leave a large hole in a place that is otherwise quite defenseless on its own.

 

Relevance of the food and how it connects to their culture

Because their diets and medicines are simple and comprised of raw, one-ingredient foods, theirs has been hailed as more effective than other complex diets. Their diet has even been observed by and influenced Paleo Diet founders. Though we only go in-depth into oonta and the white-lipped peccary, Waorani have also been known to plant and consume crops like manioc, plantains, sweet potatoes, and chicha. 

Waorani agricultural science is based on slash-and-mulch especially manioc slash-and-mulch because manioc is the most consumed tuber in Waorani foodways (Lu and Wirth 235). While the slash-and-burn agricultural practices proved to diminish the crop yield and the nutrients in the crop, slash-and-mulch has proved better crop yield and it also prevents loss of nutrients in the crop (Joslin et al. 1).

Oonta

Curarea tecunarum is a Waorani hunting poison that is used in a blowgun dart. It is consumed daily within the flesh of various poisoned animals, such as monkeys and birds that are located high in the rainforest. C. tecunarum has a high frequency of consumption in the Waorani diet, only exceeded by three staple foods: manioc, bananas, and the white-lipped peccary. The Waorani refer to the C. tecunarum vine and poison as oonta, a word that is not present in Spanish or English vocabulary. Looking closely into the word oonta, the double “oo”s in Wao Terero signify various associations to dart poison, blow, meat, and hunt (London 465). The oonta vine has a flattened shape which climbs trees and grows in altitudes ranging from 350 to 1,000 meters. Waorani poison preparation and utilization is unlike the rest of South American Indigenous groups, due to their isolation from outside contact until recent years. Usually, other Indigenous groups prepare the poison with numerous ingredients, but the Waorani only use C. tecunarum.

 

Location

Oonta is a significant foodway of the Waorani, because it is presently only hunting poison only used by the Waorani, although a few other Indigenous groups have used it in the past. In fact, the species name, Tecunarum, comes from the Tecuna Indigenous group, which was also known to use this plant (London 267). Oonta is also a location-specific plant that only grows in remote regions such as Yasuní National Park. This region-specific plant knowledge is reflected in Waorani ethnobotany, which refers to the uses of endemic plants through traditional knowledge of local people.

Preparation

Oonta is the most elaborately prepared plant in Waorani culture. First, the bark from the vine is shaved, and the shavings are filtered with water in a funnel and then into a container. After, the liquid obtained from the filtering process is boiled and brushed on the darts, which are made with two long wood pieces cut in half and wrapped together with vines. The oonta is then left to dry. This final processed version of the poison is referred to as ome, which is the more potent version of oonta, because it is ten times more paralyzing, yet still safe to digest. Consistently ingesting the ome poses no harm to the Waorani, who successfully prepare the poison effectively enough to hunt the animals by enhancing the poison in oonta using their traditional knowledge systems and ethnobotany. Because of their extensive traditional knowledge, the Waorani can ingest this poison on a daily basis without any health consequences due to biochemical changes that occur in the transition from the raw oonta to the final version of cooked ome before it is consumed (London 471).

 

Other areas of use

Oonta has additional properties other than serving as poison. For example, oonta is used in some Indigenous groups as birth control to reduce fertility by ingesting excessive amounts or increasing fertility by ingesting small amounts from the hunt. However, Waorani is one of the three groups in Ecuador that does not use any plants for fertility purposes, due to the group’s already warlike nature. As a result, the Waorani members killing each other often in wars does not allow for a population increase. However, though unintentional, the fertility rates of the Waorani increase in May due to their higher consumption of wooly monkeys, and the oonta in the meat causes a fertility spike, which results in most Waorani individuals being born in February. The reason the Waorani consume more monkeys in May is because it is when the monkeys are the fattest, due to more fruits being available (London 500). 

Another property of Oonta includes the ability of significantly lowering blood pressure, causing the Kawymeno Waorani to have one of the lowest recorded blood pressures in the world, as well as no history of recorded cardiovascular diseases (London 8). However, with their integration into modern life the Waorani are experiencing cardiovascular diseases due to their change of diet. Lastly, Oonta has healing properties when applied to external wounds. C. tecunarum is increasingly used in anesthesia as a muscle relaxant. 

White-lipped peccary 

White-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) is considered one of the staple foods of the Waorani. It is regularly consumed, being one of the group’s favourite mammals, due to its very enjoyable garlic taste. 

 

Peccary hunting

Peccary hunting for Waorani by itself is a very important process, relying on cooperation and contribution from both men and women. It carries a high social significance because it brings all Waorani members together. From this simple act we can learn a lot about how Waorani society functions. For instance, women and men are valued equally, hence, Waorani live in an egalitarian society.  Peccary is mostly hunted with wooden spears with wooden notches on top that, after the spear is inserted, stay inside the animal’s skin. Traditionally, the men are the ones who hunt the animal, but the women are the ones who actually kill the animal, with knives (London 90). In addition, white-lipped peccary hunting does not occur year-round, despite its consistent availability. Peccary is consumed seasonally due to its particular taste, which is based on the plants it consumes. Waorani hunt white-lipped peccaries only when the animals ingest wegamoñi (wild garlic). This specific plant not only gives peccary meat the delicious taste of garlic, but it also makes the hunting process much easier. Peccary who consume wegamoñi can be traced from very far, thanks to their strong garlic odor. Waorani use this knowledge to hunt peccary only when they know the meat tastes good, and is easy to find. On the other hand, when the peccary consumes a plant called Wengamo, the Waorani stop hunting peccary, because its meat takes on a very unpalatable taste (London 246). From this, we can see that the Waorani’s food sources are affected by the plants that peccary consumes, rather than the abundance of peccary itself. Waorani’s foodways of animal consumption are therefore plant-driven.

 

Nutritious delicacy 

Peccary consumption is introduced to Waorani infants at only 6 months of age by feeding them with mostly peccary fat, which is Waorani peoples’ favourite part of the animal to consume. Like all other Indigenous groups, the Waorani do not waste any part of the animal they hunt: they consume the whole peccary, but its hooves and colon are never eaten. Hooves are inedible and colon is used for medical purposes (London 201). The Waorani also have developed a special cooking method that allows them to preserve peccary meat, which involves cooking it on a fire and flipping it every 30 minutes, creating a type of smoked meat that can last up to many weeks. Therefore, peccary increases Waorani’s food security.  

Nevertheless, there is a reason behind why the peccary plays such a big role in the Waorani diet. Due to peccaries’ high consumption of phytochemical plants that function as antioxidants in human bodies, consuming peccary has immense health benefits. Once the peccary consumes these plants and its digestive system breaks up the nutrients, it is much easier for the human body to absorb them rather than directly consume the plant. Thanks to the Waorani’s awareness of the plants the peccary consumes, they do not need to eat the plants by themselves; just like Westerners eat plant nutrients through eating beef. The white-lipped peccary is a multifunctional staple food: it provides the Waorani with antioxidant-rich macronutrients, and it also prevents bacterial disease through its antimicrobial compounds (London 256).

Waorani and peccary interconnected

Peccary hunting and manhood are closely tied together, as this activity marks the transition from a boy to a man in Waorani’s culture. Hunting, choice of prey and creation of hunting weapons is, in Waorani culture, considered the way of becoming a man (Rival 291). Just before their adolescence, boys start to learn how to craft their own hunting spears and C. tecunarum poison. As soon as they are able to do this and survive their first official peccary hunting, the young boys are not considered children anymore, they become men, “fierce warriors” (Rival 291).  In addition, peccary hunting is a bonding experience and most importantly, an act that every Waorani member carries deeply in their heart.

 

Waorani and Globalization

Their involvement in oil activities and formal schooling have changed Waorani life, and today, many Waorani youth prefer to be in cities, learning and talking mainly in Spanish. The Waorani continue to experience rapid cultural change, which, although originating with missionary contact, has more recently been enhanced by the oil companies and integration into the market economy. The Ecuadorian government has been justifying oil extraction in the Amazon as buen vivir and “development” for the Indigenous communities (Lu, Valdiva, Silva 13). However, Indigenous Amazonian groups are undeniably the ones who are most harmed by the oil companies and, yet, get the smallest benefit.

 

Globalized Foodways

As a result of outside contact, the Waorani diet, which is traditionally acquired by subsistence activities such as hunting and gathering, is now declining and shifting towards purchased food in the protectorate oil fields. While there are still isolated groups of Waorani that practice a strict hunter-gatherer diet, others are relocated in accessible oil protectorates, adopting Western foodways, and thus abandoning their traditional foodways. The Waorani diet has become dependent on purchased food, and in order to afford these new foodstuffs, they have also become dependent on oil activities that are very physically demanding and pose health risks. Some of the global foods that have entered the Waorani diet are rice, noodles, cookies, and soda (Lu, Valdiva, Silva 144). As the consumption of culturally meaningful food decreases, food-related illnesses such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases- have risen in Waorani communities due to their high intake of cheap carbohydrates and sugar that are nutritionally inferior.

 

While the consumption of forest game such as woolly monkeys and peccaries with high cultural significance have diminished, the consumption of domestic meat such as chicken and beef is constantly increasing. Also, the staple crops of Waorani including manioc, plantains, and bananas, are being replaced with vegetables that are obtained from the markets, such as tomatoes and onions (Lu, Valdiva, Silva 146). Finally, this type of dependence has increased food insecurity due to abandoning subsistence activities. 

 

Traditional plant knowledge

Initially, missionaries started the process of eliminating traditional Indigenous knowledge by replacing them with Western values through formal schooling and health clinics. Waorani in the global world no longer make use of traditional knowledge, because it is not appropriate for the current way of life. In communities where modern medicine is attainable, they consult medicinal plant knowledge less frequently. Also, formal education provided to the Waorani children does not include Traditional Ecological Knowledge in its curriculum; it only addresses raising kids in the model of the globalized world (Weckmüller et al. 10).

 

Oil roads

The oil access roads that are built into the Yasuní National Park have both direct and indirect impacts on the Waorani people. The direct impacts of these roads include habitat destruction, soil erosion, and wildlife extinction. The indirect impacts include deforestation, as these roads are utilized by illegal loggers who access interior routes in search of valuable cedar trees (Finer et al 10). Finally, overhunting occurs due to unsustainable hunting of vulnerable species. The Waorani, who traditionally used blowguns, have now switched to guns in many cases, and use the free transportation provided by the oil companies to participate in wildlife trade, as well as selling other handicrafts as a source of income. Moreover, due to limited economic opportunities provided by selling handicrafts (which is generally undertaken by Waorani women), the sex trade has started in order to afford market goods, resulting in an increase of teen pregnancies (Alban Canpana 41).

 

Climate Change

Waorani climate change leaders are increasingly teaming up with various NGOs such as the Ceibo Alliance, an Indigenous-led organization that consists of Kofan, Sinoa, Secoya, and Waorani peoples in collaboration with Amazon Frontlines, in order to create a model of Indigenous resistance and international support in protecting Indigenous territory (Kessler 2).

Wao Öme

The Waorani people call their lands wao öme, which refers to the Waorani land and their role in its protection. Wao öme signifies a place of abundance in which an interdependence between Waorani and non-human elements of land is connected to the concept of Waponi Kiwimoni (living well) (High 304). However, oil extraction threatens the deeper understanding of Waponi Kiwimoni that comes from the interconnectedness of Waorani to non-human beings in wao öme. As a result, the increasing concerns resulted in cooperation within the Waorani and also outside groups such as NGOs and environmentalist organizations. The Waorani are actively involved in state-sponsored and international conservation projects. This is made possible by their attaining technological training and employment within NGOs in environmental mapping and monitoring (High 319). In this way, they challenge the oil companies with the same concept of development that was used to legitimize it. For example, digital mapping, which locates different flora, fauna and important sites, is different from how the Waorani experience wao öme. Kowori (outsider) technology, however, is still highly valued.

 

Wao öme inherently contradicts the peaceful understanding of the Western conservationist perspective due to its antagonistic relationships with other human members and non-humans. However, the Waorani uses strategic translations in presenting the Wao öme through environmental discourses in order to accommodate Western values and to take its pace in Western eco-politics (High 312). 

 

Another achievement that stems from global partners and NGOs is evident in making clean water accessible to people located in the Amazon including the Waorani. Women on the oil roads wake up early every morning to catch the company bus to collect their daily ration of clean water. However, the Waorani are still deprived of adequate clean water despite the promises of the oil companies. Working together with Amazon Frontlines the Waorani are trained to lead the installation and the maintenance of the rainwater catchment system that provides the Indigenous communities with clean and safe drinking water, which has resulted in improved digestive health in Waorani (Kessler 2).

 

Overall, some of the benefits that come from the Waorani interacting with the globalized world include international solidarity for Waorani resistance for the protection of their rights and their lands, programs that support women livelihoods sustainably, and viable solutions to pollution such as the water program.

Here, we leave you with a Waorani song.

Optional readings/Videos:

• This is my message to the western world – your civilization is killing life on Earth, Nenquimo, Nemonte. (Op-ed). https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/12/western-worldyour-civilisation-killing-life-on-earth-indigenous-amazon-planet 
• Victims and Warriors: Civilized Victims, High, Casey https://muse-jhu-edu.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/chapter/1476959/pdf 
• Waorani The People (video). https://vimeo.com/295917626

Thanks for reading!

 

 

                          Works Cited

Alban Campana, Dayuma. Teen Pregnancy on the Oil Road: Social Determinants of Teen Pregnancy in an Indigenous Community of the Ecuadorian Amazon, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2015.

Erickson, Pamela. Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World’s Cultures. “Waorani”. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 01/01/2003, https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/referenceworkentry/10.1007/0-387-29907-6_99

Etchart, Linda. “The Role of Indigenous Peoples in Combating Climate Change.” Palgrave Communications, vol. 3, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1-4.

Finer, Matt, et al. “Ecuador’s Yasuní Biosphere Reserve: A Brief Modern History and Conservation Challenges.” Environmental Research Letters, vol. 4, no. 3, 2009, pp. 034005.

High, Casey, and Project Muse. Victims and Warriors: Violence, History, and Memory in Amazonia. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 2015, doi:10.5406/j.ctt13x1m0q.

High, Casey. “Our Land is Not for Sale!” Contesting Oil and Translating Environmental Politics in Amazonian Ecuador.” The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, vol. 25, no. 2, 2020, pp. 301-323.

Joslin, Aaron H., et al. “Five Native Tree Species and Manioc Under Slash-and-Mulch Agroforestry in the Eastern Amazon of Brazil: Plant Growth and Soil Responses.” Agroforestry Systems, vol. 81, no. 1, 2011, pp. 1-14

Kane, Joe. savages. Knopf, New York, 1995.

Kessler, Rebecca. With no Oil Cleanup in Sight, Amazon Tribes Harvest Rain for Clean Water. Newstex, Menlo Park, 2018.

London, Douglas S. Diet as a Double-Edged Sword: The Pharmacological Properties of Food among the Waorani Hunter-Gatherers of Amazonian Ecuador, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2012.

Lu, Flora, and Ciara Wirth. “Conservation Perceptions, Common Property, and Cultural Polarization among the Waorani of Ecuador’s Amazon.” Human Organization, vol. 70, no. 3, 2011, pp. 233-243.

Lu, Flora, Gabriela Valdivia, and Néstor L. Silva. “Oil as Risk in Waorani Territory.” Palgrave Macmillan US, New York, 2016.

N/A. “Hunt with the Amazonian Waorani Tribe.” The Paleo Diet. 2020. https://thepaleodiet.com/hunt-with-the-amazonian-waorani-tribe

Papworth, Sarah, E. J. Milner-Gulland, and Katie Slocombe. “The Natural Place to Begin: The Ethnoprimatology of the Waorani.” American Journal of Primatology, vol. 75, no. 11, 2013, pp. 1117-1128.

Papworth, Sarah. “Indigenous Peoples, Primates, and Conservation Evidence: A Case Study Focussing on the Waorani of the Maxus Road.” Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2016.

Rival, Laura. “The Attachment of the Soul to the body among the Huaorani of Amazonian Ecuador.” Ethnos, vol.70, no. 3, 2005, pp. 285-310

Weckmüller, Holger, et al. “Factors Affecting Traditional Medicinal Plant Knowledge of the Waorani, Ecuador.” Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland), vol. 11, no. 16, 2019, pp. 4460.

 

 

 

Watching the documentary Hija de la laguna the daughter of the lake I started thinking of the Waorani and some similar situations that they have gone through. First of all, both of them have things that are highly valued from the Western perspective underneath their traditional ancestral territories. For Ecuador the main export is oil and for Peru the main export is minerals. As a result, both are facing threats of losing their territories and poorly regulated extractivism greatly impairs their ability to access water due to pollution.

Both oil and gold promise development by the governments for the Indigenous communities who are located on these natural resources. However, the exchange that takes place in the name of development between the extracting companies and the Indigenous people seem highly unfair. These companies offer labour low-wage jobs with oil activities to the Waorani and mining activities to the Quechua in exchange for pollution, environmental degradation, and soil erosion that impedes farming. Even though, the Indigenous groups are able to access market goods and send their kids to school with the money that they make these industries are generating great revenue from their ancestral lands by highly polluting it and providing highly uneven benefits.

The power hierarchies behind this extractivist ideology seem absurdly unfair and often times it goes unnoticed. The government and industries present extracting oil and gold as a way to drag the Indigenous communities out of poverty by offering them jobs and making them a part of the global world. However, they completely ignore the fact that these communities end up with no access to water, and their abilities to feed themselves through subsistence activities by farming and hunting are significantly diminished due to pollution and environmental degradation. In fact, they have become dependent on these activities that highly damage and pollute their traditional lands in order to buy store purchased food. It is completely none sense that these extraction policies promise development when they can not even provide the most basic essential need for water.

Earlier this week when I went out to get some coffee in a store they were advertising their coffee as high quality and they were attaining this quality to the product’s imported status. Somehow it is a social construct that we usually associate imported with high quality. I wonder if this is because independently from the actual quality of a product and its background, the ability to reach the far makes us feel powerful therefore good about ourselves. Our ability to access the global market makes us blind to the rest of the qualities of the product sometimes.

People tend to romanticize broccoli from Guatemala because they imagine the Indigenous as a distant group both physically and traditionally having remained pure of any Western influence and the industrialized food chain (Benson and Fischer, 809). A bite into our broccoli we immediately start feeling good about ourselves both physically believing we are eating clean and mentally believing we are supporting small-scale producers completely unaware of how little they get paid compared to the distributors and packagers.

Benson and Fischer explain consumption is a combination of the commodification of identity and fascination with the exotic and foreign. Romanticizing through our imagination makes us feel better about ourselves in commodifying our identity. We believe buying products from far away can make us seem special or in the case of broccoli as an organic/ethical consumer completely disregarding how in fact the Guatemalan broccoli is produced with the use of chemical fertilizers (just like the US produced) and putting the Guatemalan producers in a vulnerable position due to their underprivileged access to market information creating a double commodity fetish (804).

The second aspect of consumption, which is fetishizing the foreign as exotic I believe can be both harmful and beneficial. It might be harmful because when we fetishize the foreign, Guatemalan foodways we ignore their capability of agency and this makes us undermine their desires into needs. It is significant to decolonize our minds and acknowledge the Indigenous producers as active decision-makers in the global market.

On the other hand, Benson and Fischer mention location (Guatemala) as a positive marketing strategy which fulfills the fascination of the people with the foreign and give the example of a successful farmer who labels his products as “Exotic” and “ Producto de Guatemala” which attracts more customers for his products (812).

This made me start thinking about how most children’s stories start with: in a kingdom far far away, and how this already constructs the story in a more attractive and appealing way. In Shrek, the kingdom named far far away inspired by this traditional opening line for stories represents a place like the Rodeo Drive in California where fairytale creatures live in luxury. This kingdom of far far away which is so far away from Shrek’s swamp promises a life of happily ever after just like the consumers commodifying their happily ever afters by consuming products that are imported.

Reading about the post-development theory in the article Garifuna Foodways Resistance by Hall I was reminded by its critiques that I learned in my class SOCI 301. One of the critiques of post-development was romanticizing these Indigenous groups and trying to preserve their “authenticity”. However, as we have been learning in our class through globalization the concept of authenticity does not exist due to high interconnectedness and mobility.

Hall, while agreeing with Escobar’s post-development values that alternatives to development should be attended to, holds on to some aspects of development at the same time. Just like the folkloric shaman chooses which parts to integrate into his/her practice (healing rituals) and the ones to eliminate (black magic) we can integrate some parts of development within alternatives to development. For example, the article discusses how the machinery grater introduced reduces the time of labor in making areba which is seen as a symbol of “grassroots collaborative work among rural Garifuna women”(Hall 35). This is an evidence of how the Garifuna using their agencies to benefit the offerings of Western Institutions are still able to maintain their solidarity.

While it is significant to preserve the Indigenous Knowledge Systems which is defined by our classmates Emma, Estefania, Nima, and Constantine as the “knowledge acquired prior to the advancement of modern technology”, of the Garifuna there is no harm to integrate some beneficial technological practices of development into IKS to take advantage of these short-term benefits. Also, as Hall describes, the post-development theory aspires to abandon the concept of development altogether, and this disregards the value of the grass-root developments which is inherently directed by the Indigenous groups. The grassroots development aspires to unite the community with an increased agency in order to enhance the wellbeing of the community. However, the post-development only focuses on the Eurocentric aspects of development. As mentioned before, romanticizing these Indigenous groups through the lens of post-development  we could be misled in a way to imagine these groups as silenced victims. However, this is a harmful approach and the agencies of the people should be acknowledged because the Indigenous are adapt groups that can manage and actively influence development with a bottom-top approach.

In SOCI 380, I learned about the Zapatistas and how through their grass-root movement they managed to keep their autonomy from the Mexican Government. As a result, the Zapatista managed their economy based on collective ownership and production just like the Garifuna women producing areba empowering one another by this movement.

Reading Unit 2 Podcast Lecture Blog I was intrigued by the phrases Amanda Smith said “participating in something that has not changed”, “It has maintained itself” trying to describe authenticity. I came to think about tulips in Amsterdam Airport. Usually, in airports, there are souvenirs that best represent that country’s authenticity. All stores in the airport had tulips or tulips seeds to bring back home to plant and grow something representative of the Netherlands. However, the most representative of the Netherlands, tulips were actually brought from the Ottoman Empire, today’s Turkey. The Turkic groups brought tulips from Central Asia, the Pamir Mountains to Anatolia while migrating for decoration purposes eventually being brought to the Netherlands as a representative symbol.

On the other hand, the Turkish coffee that is sold in the markets is labeled mostly as proudly authentic Turkish coffee. However, Turkish coffee was also brought into Turkey from Yemen and Sultan Suleyman who loved it popularized this type of coffee in Istanbul.

Today, the term “authenticity” only remains as a marketing term as mentioned in Unit 2 Podcast Lecture Blog (Amanda Smith) in order to attract tourists who obsess about the concepts of untouched and pure. If we remember the Introduction reading from Tuhiwai Smith, Tuck & Yang, the term “purity” was defined as “destructive” and “isolating” around many concepts including cultural and ceremonial knowledge (3). Authenticity is associated with being pure and not changed since the beginning. However, aspiring the pure and authentic is isolating all the history and power hierarchies behind that culture. Essentially, assuming that an ayahuasca experience is authentic is to ignore the sufferings of the Indigenous people during the rubber boom as Amanda Smith explains. It is impossible to see things as untouched because through globalization everything is accessible and all cultural practices are diffusing. Each culture has been appropriating various aspects of cultural forms into their traditions inevitably with the impact of globalization.

This inevitably mixing cultures remind of me the happenings that I learned in my Arts History class during my exchange in Mexico. The participation and the audience involvement in happenings take place in the creating of art defying the traditional barriers between the artist, the work, and the viewers. This is one of the ways to see the diffusion of cultures and constantly creating something new. In the Unit 2 Podcast Lecture Blog, Tamara explains how some tourists would be criticized for not purchasing authentic textiles because they would have elements of Western aesthetics. In this case, I see the artist as the Indigenous women, the art as the textile, and the viewer as the tourist. When the artist/Indigenous women and the viewer/tourists interact the final product is naturally influenced by both creating something new by mixing two elements just like in happenings.

Therefore we should be aware of the harm when we idolize a concept that does not even exist which is authenticity. Rather we should encourage ourselves to learn and love the interconnectedness of many cultures and histories within one culture. It is way more fun to put the pieces of the puzzle together and enjoy each piece.

Going through the many keywords presented by my classmates I came across the keyword “Agroecology” and I was intrigued especially by the examples that were given to clarify this concept.

First of all, reading how agroecology refers to “responsible ecological practices in local ecosystems to grow healthy plants” I got a little bit bitter since through industrialization and globalization this practice barely occurs. The main goal of producing food has become to feed the growing population and sustaining a quantity of food rather than the quality of food. Also, since another goal of producing food is actually producing cheap food, the consequences on the environment and our health are almost completely disregarded.  As Belasco explains, with globalization the food industries have distanced us from “nature” and “tradition” by blurring the links between the farm and the dinner table (4). Almost completely unaware of how the food on my table is picked up, and processed I feel ashamed of letting myself become so blinded to the most important element in my life. Even when I pick up some mint from my grandpa’s garden in order to dry and mix it in my food I feel both connected to my food and connected to myself. I feel happy knowing what my mint has gone through before it got in my belly. I know my mint did not hurt anyone or polluted the environment. I feel like I have more control over my actions as a consumer and how it affects the rest of the world.

The keyword blog, Agroecology has given an example of how the industrialization of agriculture brought many environmental and social problems in Brazil. This has made me think of all the illegal logging and forest fires that are being started both in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest and forests elsewhere in the world in order to keep/feed the livestock. According to the Netflix documentary: Cowspiracy, livestock covers 45% of the Earth’s total land, and acres of rainforests are cleared every second because there is a lack of land in order to mass-produce livestock for human consumption. Greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and destroying many animal/plant species/habitats are just some of the consequences of producing/consuming mass-produced livestock. However, as Belasco mentions we are completely blinded to see the meat in front of us as an animal because the concept of “forgetfulness” imposed on the society by the meat-packing industry (4). He states how it is easy now to forget that eating meat is an act that is inevitably bound to killing.

Apart from animal agriculture, I sometimes close my eyes when drinking my Turkish tea and imagine the women together collecting the tea leaves in the mountains. I imagine their hands, and the conversations they are having with each other. I imagine how tired they must be feeling at the end of each day and if they are proud of their hard work. Drinking away someone’s hours, handwork, and struggle on a breakfast table in a couple of seconds sometimes makes me feel very unproductive and disconnected. I simply want to know more about myself by knowing more about the food I eat because “we are what we eat” (Belasco 1).

In the reading; Introduction; ” Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education: Mapping the Long View by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Eve Tuck, and K. Wayne Yang I have encountered many points that I have discussed in my previous class that I took, SOCI 360 Sociology and Natural Resources. Both have mentioned the consequences of the underlying systematic oppression of Western research and how it refuses to abide by Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination.

The Western capitalist system highly encourages self-profits over the wellness of the overall community and the earth. This leads us to the tragedy of the commons in which everyone over-uses the land and its resources irresponsibly depleting resources and polluting the environment. In order to avoid this, we clearly need to embrace the Indigenous Research which has been able to use all land resources responsibly so the resources were able to regenerate themselves before facing depletion and extinction. “Relationality” (9) an important element of Indigenous Research enables Indigenous people to consider their relationship with further generations and with the land.

Despite its sustainable practices, there are many scholars that try to correct Indigenous Research because it is seen as inadequate and hostile (Smith 6). However, today there is an increasing number of Indigenous scholars in research programs. This might be attributed to climate change and other environmental crises that have not been able to resolve with Western research. Personally, I am a bit shocked how late the settler colonials decided to give higher importance to Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Research after witnessing how the growing technology is incapable of alleviating the consequences of industrialization and globalization. Logically, the Indigenous Research, that has been acquired for thousands of years with first-hand experience and a holistic world-view in contrast to the Western research that is required in a short term with a reductionist approach, should be given higher significance.

Also, Smith mentions (7) that Indigenous people speaking for themselves is one of the most critical parts of decolonization. As I learned in my SOCI 310 Canadian Society class, being able to represent ourselves and express our own opinions and not be expressed from other perspectives is decolonizing. This reading explains how before Indigenous conferences only consisted of white scholars describing Indigenous Knowledge and Research and that, today an increasing number of Indigenous scholars speak up for themselves and describe Indigenous Knowledge from their own perspectives. This could indicate a significant step towards decolonizing Indigenous minds.

I am from mint.

from the bays of Foca.

I am from where cats and olive trees are.

Uniquely patterned cats, and strong trunks that carry vibrant green olives.

I can hear the seeds of the sweet figs popping and melting in my mouth.

 

From growing with love.

From Nejla

From Felipe

From cilantro.

and sage.

 

I am from coffee pot,

foaming,

mantı,

lavender,

and walking in the breeze to get gum-mastic ice cream.

 

Hello! I am Alara Sever. I was raised in Istanbul, Turkey!

I love to travel to learn about and work with different animal species and watch may different sunsets. I love touching and interacting with animals and observing them. Along the way one of my favourite things to do is tasting different food even though my options might be limited since I am vegetarian. I love finding tastes that I can obsess about. I never get bored of watching sunrises and sunsets, seeing how the colours change and get painted by the sun rising and going down. I am very excited about this class because I am very interested in Latin American culture. Since I had been to Mexico I could not stop going back there in every opportunity and I did an exchange in Santa Fe Campus last term (My next stop is Islas Marietas to see the blue-footed boobies). I absolutely love discovering and experiencing Latin American culture. Since I am Turkish I also believe the Latin culture is close to Turkish culture. There are also so many things that I enjoy about Turkish culture such as drinking Turkish coffee and trying to interpret my energy from the shapes that the coffee grounds form. I used to make mantı (Turkish ravioli) in our summer house for hours with my grandma, playing with dough and having fun. I love eating sweet and juicy peaches in Turkey and papayas with lemon juice in Mexico. Overall, I am always looking forward to going to new places in Latin America and to observe endemic animals and colourful sunsets while tasting some incredible food (mezcal hot chocolate, and green chilaquiles with extra beans). I am happy that  I will get to learn more about the Latin culture in this class and when I am back there I can interpret things more meaningfully.