Isolated S. American Tribes
It’s hard to imagine, in our world of internet and cell phones, that there could be any people unconnected and unplugged from the ‘modern world.’ Yet, these photographs show that there are still some tribes in South America, this one is in Brazil, that remains isolated from the Western world and modern government. Who knows how much they know about the world outside their tribe? This group still uses bow and arrows.
Now here’s the question. Should we make contact with these tribes, to study them. There is much we can learn from isolated tribes about human behavior and evolution. On the other hand, would it not be better for them to leave them be? Especially because, in the past, western diseases have been known to decimate tribal populations.
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May 29th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I doubt that there is much of anywhere in the Amazon basin at least that hasn’t already been impacted by Western civilization. Even if they’ve never seen outsiders, they’ve been in contact with other groups who form a chain back to the big trading cities on the river. So diseases aren’t much of a risk.
If anything, the precarious nature of those cultures in the face of encroaching Westernization is all the more reason to study them responsibly and sympathetically. They’ve produced wonderful, unique cultures that deserve to be remembered before they are destroyed.
Not contacting them just because we fear we might ‘poison’ their pristine culture is a little patronizing. They can handle new experiences and new ideas without giving up everything they are. What destroys indigenous cultures is economic and political domination by Western culture.
At least that’s my little anthropologist’s take on the subject.
May 30th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Nice post, both of you!
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
John Hawk’s Anthropology blog had some salient comments on the photos:
http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/tv/indiana-jones-lost-indigenous-people-2008.html
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
thanks. Those are some important thoughts.
June 8th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
[...] week or so ago, I posted and commented some pictures released by the BBC on the isolated tribes living in the forests of [...]