The book so far has been a very interesting read. I appreciate engaging in environmentalism from an indigenous lens and it was something I was personally very curious about going into this course. With Kopenawa’s descriptions of how “white people” have come in and ignorantly destroyed Yanomami’s surrounding natural life, I think we have come a long way from our readings from The First New Chronicle and Good Government. No longer are we reading from someone that wishes to bring two worlds together, but now we read from a wise shaman who even goes as far to say that the ways of the outsiders “badly lack wisdom” (p.13). Incidentally, I was somewhat reminded of the book/film Dune, where you have the case of the Fremen (desert people) who are constantly forced to host outsiders, who harvest their resources for political and economic gain. However, the desert being an inherently unwelcoming environment, has the Fremen constantly having to teach these outsiders their ways of life, despite not necessarily agreeing with their handling of the natural resources. I see these parallels in the current text as it delves into the mishandling of resources for an outsider’s gain. 

However, I also found it interesting that he acknowledges the differences in the passing down of knowledge. He states, “unlike [white people], I do not possess old books in which my ancestors’ words have been drawn. The xapiri’s words are set in my thoughts, in the deepest part of me” (p.13). This is significant to me as it reinforces the idea of orality within indigenous tradition. Nevertheless, despite the importance of this means of knowledge preservation, clearly his words can only reach his intended audience (non-Yanomami) through written words. Nevertheless, he speaks to the power of spoken word in that it is not something that can necessarily be taken away. Kopenawa says that the xapiri’s words “ can neither be watered down nor burned. They will not get old like those that stay stuck to image skins made from dead trees” (p.13). This consolidates and reinforces the strength in oral tradition and what it has to offer that written word does not. 

As for the section on how the book came into being, I must first acknowledge the hard work that went into the gathering of the content. Spanning over a decade, the text is stitched together via the unique partnership between Davi Kopenawa, a Yanomami shaman and spokesperson, and Bruce Albert, a French anthropologist. Here we are faced with similar questions that we saw with “I, Rigoberta Menchu.” The question of voice is one worth considering as we must acknowledge Bruce Albert’s efforts in trying to not convey  Kopenawa’s words through western ideas and ideals. However, to what extent can we truly say that this is true to Kopenawa’s thoughts? There is of course a similar power dynamic here that is similar to what we saw with Burgos and Menchu. While Albert claims his intentions to be in an effort to truly showcase Kopenawa’s thoughts, we nevertheless must question the limitations in who is ultimately bringing this book together. To what extent were other agendas involved in the making of this book?