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

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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1 comment:

  1. UnknownApril 5, 2015 at 6:37 PM

    The Awa tribe seems to be an interesting and unique culture. I enjoy researching them. I believe that the Awa are very family oriented, they value children and their animals much like myself. They wait a few years to name their child. I think that it gives the parents and the child a chance to get to know each other and to find a name that correctly represents them. Unlike our culture, in which the parents usually have a name picked out before you are even born, before your parents even meet you. Although I go by “Maddy”, my name is “Madeline” and people often comment about how “I am not a Madeline”. I think the Awa system of naming their children ensures that their name fits them. This also focuses on individuality within the family and the society. I think that my siblings’ names (Brian,Kyle, Aidan) are quite popular and prominent but these names show nothing about our personality. They are simply names that our parents’ liked and what we respond to. The Awa take great care in individualizing and making their children’s names unique. The Awa take great care of animals, especially monkeys. The orphaned monkeys are usually mothered by a woman of the Awa tribe. The fact that she breast feeds and carries the monkey around with her like a child, shows the respect and love the Awa have for animals. They recognize their animals and do not kill them for food because they think of them as part of their family. Although my family loved my dog when he was alive, we did not go to this extent. However, my family and I did treat him as part of the family and my mom would even and brush his teeth every morning and night. Although the Awa have a unique idea about marriages, I believe this to be a result of their lack of population. My culture and Catholic religion have different views on marriage than the Awa. The Awa people are striving to keep their tribe alive. This takes the effort of all the members of the tribe. The woman sleep with many men to be able to become fertile and reproduce. This results in an increase of population. In return, the child that is born is thought to be the offspring of the woman and any of the men that the woman slept with before the child was conceived. This way brings the community together. I often view marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman that are not related and have dated for a long period of time. This marriage would take place in a Catholic church in which they vow their loyalty and love to one another. These vows include no adultery. The Catholic Church does not believe in multiple sexual partners, even if it is only to reproduce. I would like to follow the way the Catholic Church and my family has set the precedents and rules of marriage. I would say that my morals and culture are different from the Awa tribe but I do understand and respect their culture.

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