Our Philosophy and Basic Information

Mission:

The iCross-Cultural Project is a cultural anthropology course-based project meant to raise critical consciousness about the rich cultural diversity in our indigenous world. Being totally aware of the limitations of being outsiders, we are a group of multidisciplinary undergraduate students who believe in cross-cultural sensitivity and participatory agency aimed at disseminating information about indigenous realities as accurately as possible.


Vision:

The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project's vision is to create an online cross-cultural space for students,professionals,and youth to learn and exchange cross-culturally sensitive information about contemporary indigenous experiences. From that outsider student's perspective, we will try to theoretically explore possible collaborative solutions to problems that affect the indigenous populations of our planet. Finally, we hope for the future creation of space where indigenous youth can share their experiences and their realities with us for real mutual collaboration to take place.


Values:

- We value the maximization of benefits to indigenous peoples and other vulnerable populations in the world.
- We value the respect for persons all over the world.
- We value the equal treatment of people, and we are against the exploitation of vulnerable groups around the world.
- We value collaborative cross-cultural learning and critical thinking.


Background Information:

The awa are an endangered indigenous group of people who have little to no contact with the modern world. There are currently 350 members, 100 of which have had no contact with the outside world whatsoever. They faced significant hardship during the 19th century, when settlers came in and cleared most of the forest they live in. This caused them to move to government-established settlements. Even after they left their home behind, they were still able to maintain their way of life, and pass on their cultural values.


Geographic Location:

The awa are located in the eastern portion of the amazon rainforest. With the surplus of wildlife and food available to them, the awa get most of their food from hunting. Although their is so much food, the awa insist on hunting some animals only during certain times of the year. Other animals, such as the capybara and the harpy eagle are taboo to eat, and therefore will not be eaten. The awa try to maintain the survival of the rainforest, just as they are trying to maintain the survival of their people.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Population and their Way of Living



As of today there is around 240 tribes in Brazil with approximately 900,000 people; which equals 0.4% of the Brazilian's population.  The Awa tribe consists of just 350 people out of the almost thousand indigenous in the Brazilian amazon. They are nomadic hunter-gatherers, which means that they obtain most of their foods form wild animals and plants. The Awa tribe lives in small family groups and they only keep few possessions with them, which allows them to move more faster through the forest. Also these groups have a highly detailed mental map of their surroundings, which allows them to know where are the best places for hunting and for settling their shelters. When moving from one part of the amazon to another, the Awa groups have the ability to built shelters from tree saplings and palm leaves in a few hours. This tribe is also very well known because they have many pets. They have boars, vultures, coatis, capuchins, howler monkeys, and pigs. Some of these wild animals get to share the hammocks with the people. When the tribe finds a baby animal, they take care of it until they consider that he or she is ready to go back to the amazon and take care or herself or himself. In the Awa tribes many families have more pets than children in their shelters.


Survival International
            Brazilian Tribes. Electronic document,
            http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/brazilian, accessed March 25, 2015 

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Marriage and Family Life


The Awa Tribe has a unique family life.  Being that they only have a population of about 3 hundred members, the inbred levels are very high.  Alex Shoumatoff, the author of "The Last of Eden", says, “some of the kids look a little inbred. There is a lot of marriage between close kin here, there being no one else to marry" (Vanity Fair).  Being that the population is so small and there are more men than women, most of the women are married to multiple men.   the woman usually sleeps with multiple men in attempts of getting pregnant. Shoumatoff also mentions,  "reproduction is a collective, cumulative effort, and all of the men who sleep with her are the father of her child: plural paternity, the first I’ve ever heard of this".  This unites the Awa tribe to becoming one big family.  

The Awa do not name their children until they find a name that suits their child. This could take years.  This shows their admiration of individuals being independent. 


The Awa enjoy helping orphaned animals.  They treat these animals like children. Some women even breastfeed the monkeys they keep.  When the monkeys are old enough to be on their own, the Awa do no hunt them, instead, they recognize them when they see them.  According to Survival International, “Although wild monkeys are an important source of food, once a baby has been brought into the family and breast fed, it will never be eaten.  Even if it returns to the forest, the Awa will recognice it as hanima: part of the family.”

Shoumatoff, Alex
            2013 The Last of Eden. Electronic document,
            http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/12/awa-indians-endangered-amazon-tribe, accessed March 24, 2015

Survival International
            Earth’s Most Threatening Tribe. Electronic document,

            http://www.survivalinternational.org/awa, accessed March 24, 2015
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Monday, March 23, 2015

A Troubled Past

For centuries the Awa people lived in peace with their surroundings, occupying thousands of acres of land untouched by the outside world. That all changed in the 1950's, when loggers and ranchers invaded their land. The Awa homeland took a major hit when large deposits of iron ore was found on the west side of their territory. This resulted in the Great Carajas Project, which consisted of a number of dams, ranches, and smelters. The Great Carajas Project changed the Awa homeland forever. Dams halted the flow of some of the major rivers the Awa used for fishing. The ranches and logging companies continually shrunk the size of the forest the Awa lived in. In 1985 a railway was built through the heart of the jungle, further decimating the Awa's homeland. Less than 15 years after iron ore was found in the forest, over half of the almost 60 tribes living in the forest had perished. Although some organizations such as Survival and FUNAI tried to help protect the Awa and their home, the amount of destruction continued at the same feverish pace, until 2010, where it was discovered that about a half of the Awa's homeland had been destroyed, all in less than 60 years.

Foster, Brandon
            2013  Awa: Saving Earth's Most Threatened Tribe. Electronic document,
            http://www.argentinaindependent.com/currentaffairs/awa-saving-earths-most-threatened-tribe/, accessed March 23, 2015.

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