Ayoreo
Total population | |
---|---|
4,789[1][2] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Paraguay | 2,600[1] |
Bolivia | 2,189[2] |
Languages | |
Ayoreo • Spanish | |
Religion | |
Traditional Religion • Christianity[3] |
The Ayoreo (Ayoreode,
Name and language
The Ayoreo people are known by numerous names including Ayoré, Ayoreode, Guarañoca, Koroino, Moro, Morotoco, Poturero, Pyeta Yovai, Samococio, Sirákua, Takrat, Yanaigua and Zapocó.[8][9] In the Ayoreo language, Ayoreo means “true people,” and Ayoreode means "human beings."[10][11]
They speak the Ayoreo language, which is classified under Zamucoan, a small language family of Paraguay and Bolivia. A grammar and dictionary have been published for the language, and 20% of the Ayoreo are literate.[8] Tsiracua is a dialect of Ayoreo.[8]
History
The Ayoreo were first contacted when the
Christian missionaries made contact with the Ayoreo in the late 1940s, first with the northern groups in Bolivia and then with the southern groups in Paraguay.
Culture
The Ayoreo are divided into seven clans, with each clan having a particular last name associated with it.[12] The Ayoreo have a deep connection to Eami, their collective territory.[7] They are nomadic hunter-gatherers, but in the rainy season they plant small amounts of crops, including corn, beans, and squash.[18][19] They hunt anteaters, pigs, tortoises, and monkeys in the forest and collect honey from the Quebecois tree.[7][18][19] They also have a form of shamanism.[16] Shamans can be either gender and are known as disdain.[14] Chiefs, called asutes, are exclusively men chosen for killing the most people or animals.[14] Music is an integral part of Mayoress culture, and songs are passed down over time.[19] The Ayoreo tend to be monogamous.[14] There are records of infanticide where babies are buried alive for various reasons, such as when a baby is born to a woman who is not in an established relationship.[14]
The Ayoreo were traditionally organized into over 50 autonomous, flexible local groups.[7] The most widely known group is the Totobiegosode (people from the place where collared peccaries ate their gardens).[15] Other groups include the Garaigosode (those who live in the lowlands), the Tacheigosode (the people from the region of abundant agouti), the Direquedéjnaigosode (the people who arrived the other day), and the Guidaigosode (those who live in villages);[7][14] Ducodegosode (People of the Graves); Tiegosode (People of the River)[20]
People in contact
Ayoreo people in contact are struggling with poverty and discrimination, especially in the cities.[7][11] There are few jobs, so people often work as day laborers in construction or gardening.[7][11][18] Youth have few opportunities, so there is a need for scholarships in hopes that education will allow them to escape the current poverty.[7][18] Members sometimes turn to begging or prostitution in order to survive.[11][21] Ayoreo prostitutes are at a high risk for HIV, and they sometimes hide their condition and do not seek treatment in order to avoid discrimination from their community.[21] The Ayoreo often live in settlements together, such as the Degüi Community in Santa Cruz.[7][11] However, the settlements tend to be slums with poor conditions, such as houses made of mud and cane.[7][11] Discrimination is especially prevalent in the healthcare system, where Ayoreo people have to wait for extended periods of time to be seen, which can lead them to avoid seeking treatment.[11][21] In 2010, a group of Ayoreo-Atetadiegosode people in contact decided to return to their ancestral land to live a traditional lifestyle, and other groups may follow.[7]
Groups in voluntary isolation
There are about 100 uncontacted Ayoreo in 6 to 7 groups today, including the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode.
UNAP (Unión Nativa Ayoreo del Paraguay) lists six threats to Ayoreo living in voluntary isolation: cattle farming and deforestation, sale and allocation of Ayoreo territory, searches for oil, missionaries seeking contact, illegal collection of territory resources, and violation of territory by various groups.[7] Cattle farming and the subsequent deforestation is often illegal, destroys territory and resources such as water, and increases the chance of unwanted contact.[7] Various laws give the Ayoreo the right to ownership over the land they live on, which prohibits people from entering or selling the land, yet about eight million hectares is still redistributed.[7] Owners often claim no one lives on their land despite evidence proving otherwise.[7] Oil testing on Ayoreo disturbs the people there, risks contact, and violates the Ayoreo’s right to consultation and land ownership.[7] By trying to evangelize the Ayoreo, missionaries risk spreading diseases and violate laws protecting indigenous peoples from contact.[7] The collection of resources takes necessities from the people living in the territory and risks contact.[7] The violation of territories occurs when groups enter Ayoreo land without permission, creating a great risk of contact, and can displace the people living there.[7]
The Areguede’urasade
Seventeen Ayoreo-Totobiegosode people made contact in 2004 due to extensive deforestation in their territory and are now in a stage of initial contact.[18][23] The group called themselves Areguede’urasade, meaning the band of Areguede.[10] While they were living in the forest, they struggled to avoid contact, forced to flee from any sign of outsiders and had to communicate by whistles to keep from being heard.[10] They sometimes had to camp in the small patches of forest remaining around cattle pastures.[10] Lucas Bessire recorded one story of the time before contact from a member of the Areguede’urasade that reflects the traumatic experience the people suffered:
“We saw tracks. Cojñone [the Ayoreo term for a white people], Strangers. Where? It was hot. We ran far. Faaar. Swollen tongues. We cried. Crawling low. A water tank. It was full. One Cojnoi. Fat. A red shirt. Blood in the water. Trembling underneath. We ran.”[10]
The Areguede’urasade were contacted by another group of Totobiegosode who were sedentarized in 1986 by the New Tribes Mission.[10] When the two tribes became one, the Areguede’urasade were forced to give up their culture, convert to Christianity, and perform servile tasks for the initial Totobiegosode group.[10] Significant health issues were seen among members as a result of their treatment after contact.[10]
Political representation
In Bolivia, the Ayoreo people are represented by the organization CANOB (Central Ayorea Nativa del Oriente Boliviano).[24] CANOB has its main office in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.[24] CANOB has four titles to Native Community Lands, whose populations range from 157 to 384 people.[25] In 2002 an Ayoreo organization was founded in Paraguay, UNAP (Unión Nativa Ayoreo del Paraguay or the Union of Ayoreo Natives of Paraguay) that has its headquarters at the frontier between the Campo Loro and Ebetogué regions.[24] Mateo Sobode Chiquenoi and Yacamái Chiquenoi are former UNAP presidents who have written in defense of the Ayoreo in isolation and shared their personal stories.[12] The two organizations have held joint meetings due to the transnational nature of the Ayoreo territory.[7] The Totobiegosode are represented by their own organization, OPIT (Organización Payipie Ichadie Totobiegosode or the Payipie Ichadie Totobiegosode Organization).[7] There is also an organization that specifically represents Ayoreo communities around the Paraguay River, Consejo de Líderes de Alto Paraguay.[7] Various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) support Ayoreo organizations, such as APCOB, GAT (Gente, Ambiente, Territorio), which works with OPIT.[7] UNAP and the NGO Iniciativa Amotocodie (IA) monitor Ayoreo territory to confirm the presence of groups in isolation through signs such as holes cut in trees to collect honey.[7]
Local groups
- Amomégosóde
- Atetadiegosode
- Cochóigosode
- Diequedejnaigosode (Unirequedéjnagosode)
- Ducodégosode
- Eampepaigosode
- Gatebuigosode
- Guedogosode
- Ijnapuigosode
- Jachaigosode
- Ñamacodegosode
- Pajogosode
- Tiégosode
- Totobíegosode
- Tujnoigosode
- Tunupegosode
- Uechamitógosóde
Ayoréo, Paraguay:
- Amomégosóde
- Chabotódiegosóde
- Cutérepajógosode
- Dajeguéogosóde
- Ducodégosode
- Erãpeparígosóde
- Guidaigosode
- Tiégosode
- Totobíegosode
Ayoréo, Bolivia:
- Carábiagosode
- Cochocoigosode
- Cucójnaigosode
- Direquedéjnagosipísode (Unirequedéjnagosode)
- Dorojobiégosóde
- Jachaigosode
- Jnupedógosóde
- Pajogosode
- Picádebúigosóde
- Tiequedéjnagosóde
- Tiquijnachúigosóde
- Togarógosóde
- Tuijnaigosode
- Uechamitógosóde
Notes
- ^ a b Unión de Nativos Ayoreo de Paraguay & Iniciativa Amotodie 2013
- ^ a b "Censo de Población y Vivienda 2012 Bolivia Características de la Población". Instituto Nacional de Estadística, República de Bolivia. p. 29. Archived from the original on 2021-08-01. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
- ^ "Ayoreo." Ethnologue. Retrieved 5 Sept 2013.
- ^ WRM 2005
- ^ fPcN 2004, 0:25
- ^ Bremen 2000, p. 275
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak Unión de Nativos Ayoreo de Paraguay & Iniciativa Amotodie 2013
- ^ a b c "Ayoreo". Ethnologue. SIL International. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
- ISBN 978-99953-898-2-6.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Bessire 2014
- ^ a b c d e f g Infantas 2012
- ^ a b c d Glauser 2011
- ^ a b c d Hindery 2003
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sciscioli 2003
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Bessire 2008
- ^ a b c d e Chiquenoi 2013
- ^ Museum halts Paraguay mission after fears over tribe, BBC News, 15 November 2010
- ^ a b c d e Guillermo 2008
- ^ a b c Halon 2004
- ^ AYORÉ.ORG Retrieved on 27 March 2021.
- ^ a b c López-Entrambasaguas, Granero-Molina, and Fernández-Sola 2013
- ^ Vidal, John (October 5, 2010). "Chaco deforestation by Christian sect puts Paraguayan land under threat". guardian.co.uk.
- ^ "Seventeen Ayoreo--Totobiegosode Indians from the last uncontacted indigenous group in South America outside the Amazon Basin have emerged." Geographical June 2004: 13. Academic OneFile. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
- ^ a b c Braunstein, José, and Norma C. Meichtry. Liderazgo, representatividad y control social en el Gran Chaco. [Corrientes]: Editorial universitaria de la Universidad nacional del Nordeste, 2008. 106
- ^ Fundación Tierra (2011). Territorios Indígena Originario Campesinos en Bolivia: Entre la Loma Santa y la Pachamama. La Paz: Fundación Tierra.
- ^ AYORÉ.ORG Retrieved on 5 May 2021.
- ^ Ayoreo Retrieved on 5 May 2021.
References
- Bremen, Voker von (2000). "Dynamics of Adaptation to Market Economy among the Ayoréode of Northwest Paraguay". In Schweitzer, Peter P.; Biesele, Megan; Hitchcock, Robert K. (eds.). Hunters & Gatherers in the Modern World. Conflict, Resistance, and Self-Determination. Berghahn Books. pp. 275–286. ISBN 1-57181-101-X.
- Bessire, Lucas B. (2008, Spring). Isolation. Cultural Survival Quarterly, 32, 38-45
- Bessire, Lucas B. (2014). Behold the Black Caiman: A Chronicle of Ayoreo Life. University of Chicago Press.
- Chiquenoi, M. S. (2013). The Ayoreo People. In P. Lambert and A. Nickson (Eds.), The Paraguay Reader: History, Culture, Politics (342-347). Durham; London: Duke University Press.
- fPcN Germany (2004). Gran Chaco: The wilderness die (Documentary) (in German). Friends of Peoples close to Nature. Archived from the original (Both downloadable and streamed video) on 2009-05-10. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
- Glauser, B. (2011). Being indigenous: the concept of indigeneity, a conversation with two Ayoreo leaders. In S. Venkateswar and E. Hughes (Eds.), The Politics of Indigeneity: dialogues and reflections on indigenous activism (21-44). London; New York: Zed.
- Guillermoprieto, A. (2008, 07). Bolivia's New Order. National Geographic, 214, 88-95, 97-98, 100-103.
- Hindery, D. L. (2003). Multinational oil corporations in a neoliberal era: Enron, shell, and the political ecology of conflict over the cuiaba pipeline in Bolivia's chiquitania
- Infantas, A. (2012, December 18). Bolivia's Ayoreo Indians, Devoured by the City. IPS – Inter Press Service.
- Iniciativa Amotocodie (2005–2007). "The Ethnic Group of the Ayoreo". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
- López-Entrambasaguas, O. M., Granero-Molina, J. and Fernández-Sola, C. (2013). An ethnographic study of HIV/AIDS among Ayoreo sex workers: cultural factors and risk perception. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 22(22-23), 3337–3348.
- Sciscioli, A. (2003). Paraguay: 'Those Who Live in the Land of the Peccary'. Global Information Network.
- .
- Sebag, Lucien (1965b). "Le chamanisme ayoréo (II)". .
- Survival International (2009). "The Ayoreo-Totobiegosode". Survival International • The movement for tribal peoples. The site includes news, images, songs.
- Survival International. "Before contact — on the run". Archived from the original on 2009-09-08. Retrieved 2009-05-01.
- Unión de Nativos Ayoreo de Paraguay & Iniciativa Amotodie (2013). D. M Rubio and C. E. F. Calvo (Eds.), Indigenous People in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact.
- WRM (July 2005). "Paraguay: Two pieces of good news for the Totobiegosode and for Humanity". World Rainforest Movement. Archived from the original on 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
External links
- fPcN Germany (2004). Gran Chaco: The wilderness die (Documentary) (in German). Friends of Peoples Close to Nature. Archived from the original(Both downloadable and streamed video) on 2009-05-10. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
- Ayoreo man recounts first encounter with bulldozer (streamed video). Survival International. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20.
- "The Ayoreo-Totobiegosode". Survival International • The movement for tribal peoples. The site includes news, images, songs.