Part two of this work seemed to deal a lot more with the ills of white society and the accusations of savagery/lack of civility leveled at the Yanomami and Indigenous people more broadly. I found Kopenawa’s arguments quite leveled and reasonable. He never lashes out at any single person for the violence and pain perpetrated against his people, but rather the societal ideals that led them to be their, the thinking of their ancestors. With the gold miners and poachers, Kopenawa talks about how this is all in the hopes of feeding an economy of people dead set on hoarding possessions. For the Yanomami, they “think it ugly to cling too firmly to the objects we happen to possess,” much like a person, their possessions too retain a certain transience. This is framed in the larger conversation fo the separation of humanity from nature Kopenawa picks up on. For the Yanomami, the forest is filled with their ancestors, they are all created in Omama’s image. This inseparability of man from nature seems to be rooted in he idea of mortality, and since humans, much like all the animals, are mortal, there is no need to hold on to things. The items of the forest will come and go, much like its people.
Kopenawa also focuses a lot on the word in this section of the book. Especially when talking to the white people, he mentions how “I am always searching for other words; words they do not know yet. I want them to be surprised and to open their ears.” Kopenawa demonstrates an understanding of the power fo words to be rooted in their novelty. In their ability to make seen/heard what his audience has yet to hear/see. This also seems to explain his ambivalence to the written word. The spoken word is infinitely alterable, each time a story is told, something can be changed. The written word on the other hand has a permanency. Once it is recorded on the page, its fate is sealed. “Their paper skins do not speak and do not think. They are simply there, inert, with their black drawings and their lies. I much prefer our spoken words! These are the ones I want to hear and that I want to continue to follow.” Not only does Kopenawa see the inert lack of value implicit in the written word, he doesn’t care to listen to them. What his work drills into us is that to be other does not necessarily entail being evil, being other just means being different, not less. He doesn’t paint the white people as lesser because they value the written word, they simply hear the xapiri differently, He just asks that they don’t tell his people they’re wrong for hearing, learning, living, and being in other ways.
I like your point about how level Kopenawa is and how he does not lash out. He talks about being angry and he is scolding but he does not got on a rampage taking his anger out on the page. I wouldn’t even blame him if he did that in the book because he undeniably has a lot to be angry about. But that type of anger written down probably wouldn’t help his cause.
I like your point about the contrast between the written and spoken word. This discussion by Kopenawa seems to point to a lot of the themes we’ve discussed in the course so far. The idea that spoken word is evolving especially seems relevant; for example the Popol Vuh, which was based largely on oral stories, takes on a different form when written down.
I too found Kopenawa’s disdain toward written accounts interesting. Although he recognizes its usefulness now as his words are to be printed onto paper skins for all eternity. His beliefs surrounding the authenticity of his voice, much like that of Guaman Poma or Rigoberta, alleviates his worries of his words being around that long. I feel it is the trueness and novelty of his own words on the page, which have been silenced since his region first came into contact with the Other, that have surprised western civilization to hear/see something anew.