The Amazonia exhibit at the Museum of Anthropology located on the UBC campus invites its visitors to explore various aspects of everyday lives of the Indigenous people in the Amazon. Each artefact symbolizes a significant aspect of various Indigenous cultures, all of which – despite their different traditions and lifestyles – follow a holistic approach to growth and progress. Most notably, the exhibit highlights how their lives have been under long-time threat due to colonialism and the Western perception of “development” and “modernity.” I found the Yanomami shoto, baskets made by the Yanomami (who reside in the rainforest of northern Amazonia), to be the key object that clearly reflected the destructive nature of modernization on Indigenous communities and their livelihoods. In this blog post, I will examine the detrimental effects of European notions of development on the Yanomami people to highlight how Western modernization has virtually no place in Indigenous societies.
Modernization is often referred to as an advancement from a traditional society to one that is industrialized and has improved in social, economic, political, and technological aspects. Through the Western lens, the Yanomami (who continue to rely on hunting and agriculture) may therefore be perceived as under-developed or, at most, in the early stages of progression. In William Cronon’s Changes in the Land, the chapter “Bounding the Land” highlights how the European colonizers established a strong correlation between property and wealth and consequently developed a theory that the Indigenous people “failed” to “improve”, for they did not make much use of the resources on their land (55). However, upon analyzing the designs on the Yanomami shoto, it could be concluded that there is not and never was a dire need for their people to improve or develop their way of living.
The Yanomami shoto, otherwise known as the baskets that are used as serving trays or for storing materials.
Photos by Michelle Choi.
On their baskets, the Yanomami drew numerous circles to allocate the areas that are used for various reasons (e.g., fishing, hunting, rituals, etc.). From these illustrations, I noted that the Yanomami had already established a complex and sustainable system of slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting, long before the spread of Western notions of modernization through colonialism. It was only when they came into contact with outsiders in the 20th century (the beginning of the exploitative mining practices) that they began to experience the paradoxical consequences of modernization – the Yanomami are currently facing life-threatening risks due to the mining industry that has overtaken their land. The social and ecological consequences therefore reinforce the argument at hand – based on the structure of Indigenous societies, modernization is an ill-fitting system of exploitation.
In order to grasp a better understanding of the structure of Indigenous societies, I would like to present a counter-perspective to the Western notions of growth and progress through an anthropological framework. Cultural relativism is the notion that individuals should view the values and practices of an individual/group of people in the context of the other party’s respective culture, and not in terms of their own. If European explorers studied the Yanomami using cultural relativism, the focus would not be on their failure to develop into an industrial society, but rather on their inspiring ability to view nature as one with the human population. What ensued, however, was the violent attempt at modernizing the Indigenous society, which the colonial powers continue to benefit from at the expense of millions of Indigenous lives.
Works Cited:
Albert, Bruce. “The Age of Development.” Povos Indigenas No Brasil, June 1999, https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/povo/yanomami/574. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Choi, Michelle. Photo of Yanomami Shoto. 2018., Vancouver.
Corino, Joji. “Indigenous Peoples: Poverty and Well-being.” State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, 14 Jan. 2010, http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/SOWIP/press%20package/sowip-press-package-en.pdf. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Cronon, William. “Bounding the Land.” Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, Hill & Wang, 1983, pp. 55-57.
“Cultural Relativism.” Lumen: Cultural Anthropology, n.d., https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/cultural-relativism/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Kumar, Krishan. “Modernization.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Mar. 2016, https://www.britannica.com/topic/modernization. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Martin, Stephanie. “The Yanomami Tribe.” Life for a Forest: The Nature and Travel Blog, 31 Aug. 2015, http://lifeforaforest.com/2015/08/31/the-yanomami-tribe/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Porto, Nuno. Amazonia: The Rights of Nature, 10 Mar. 2017. 18 Feb. 2018, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, BC.