Secrets of the Tribe

FILM REVIEW 

Title: Secrets of the Tribe 

Director: José Padilha 

Writer: José Padilha 

Year: 2010 

Running time: 110 minutes 

Country: UK, Brazil 

Plot summary: 

The field of anthropology goes under the magnifying glass in this fiery investigation of the seminal research on Yanomami Indians. In the 1960s and '70s, a steady stream of anthropologists filed into the Amazon Basin to observe this "virgin" society untouched by modern life. Thirty years later, the events surrounding this infiltration have become a scandalous tale of academic ethics and infighting.

Secrets of the Tribe is a film by director José Padilha premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim. This documentary explores the allegations, first brought to light in the book Darkness in El Dorado, that anthropologists studying the Yanomami Indians in the 1960s and 70s engaged in bizarre and inappropriate interactions with the tribe, including sexual and medical violations. The film was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize.

© Text and image: IMDB

Yanomamö: The Fierce People

Title: Yanomamö: The Fierce People

Author: Napoleon Chagnon

Year of publication: 1968

Paperback: 304 pages

Language: English

Synopsis:

Based on the author's extensive fieldwork, this classic ethnography, now in its fifth edition, focuses on the Yanomamo. These truly remarkable South American people are one of the few primitive sovereign tribal societies left on earth. The new edition includes events and changes that have occurred since 1992, including a recent trip by the author to the Brazilian Yanomamo in 1995.

Chagnon is best known for his long-term ethnographic field work among the Yanomamö, his contributions to evolutionary theory in cultural anthropology, and to the study of warfare. The Yanomamo are a society of indigenous tribal Amazonians that live in the border area between Venezuela and Brazil.

Working primarily in the headwaters of the upper Siapa and upper Mavaca Rivers, Chagnon conducted fieldwork among these people from the mid-1960s until the latter half of 1990s. Because the Yanomamö people could not pronounce his last name, they nicknamed him "Shaki", the closest pronunciation they could approximate, which also seemed appropriate because Chagnon was constantly asking questions, and "Shaki" means "pesky bee". A major focus of his research was the collection of genealogies of the residents of the villages that he visited, and from these he would analyze patterns of relatedness, marriage patterns, cooperation, and settlement pattern histories. Applying this genealogical approach as a basis for investigation, he is one of the early pioneers of the fields of sociobiology and human behavioral ecology.

Napoleon Chagnon is well known for his ethnography, Yanomamö: The Fierce People (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1968) which was published in more than five editions and is commonly used as a text in university level introductory anthropology classes, making it the all-time bestselling anthropological text. Chagnon was also a pioneer in the field of visual anthropology. He collaborated with ethnographic filmmaker Tim Asch and produced a series of more than twenty ethnographic films documenting Yanomamö life. His life's work has made him both a celebrated figure and a lightning rod for controversy and criticism.

©Text: Wikipedia

The enemy god - A yanomamö film

FILM REVIEW 
Yai Wanonabälewä: The Enemy God is a feature-length dramatic motion picture set in the Amazon rainforest. The film gives voice to a group of indigenous rainforest people to relate their own dramatic story. The film is made in partnership with Yanomamö communities in Amazonas province in the rainforest of Venezuela and proceeds from the film will go to benefit those communities as directed by Yanomamö leaders.
Yai Wanonabälewä: The Enemy God began with a request from a group of indigenous Yanomamö (or Yanomami), in order to find somebody that would allow them to tell their version of the history of their communities in the Amazon rainforest. After years of violence and fear, they want to tell the world about the new ways of peace and hope that they have discovered for their people. It is the story of a significant group, led by a respected headman whose Spanish name is Bautista. It is a true story.
Bautista Cajicuwa and his K'ekchi' fellow villagers acted as themselves in the film.
The Enemy God project is a multi-faceted initiative to raise awareness and involvement on behalf of indigenous people groups. Through The Enemy God project audiences will:
•See the self-determined transformation of an indigenous culture while preserving and honoring their uniqueness in their Creator’s eyes.
•Hear from and meet leaders from indigenous groups in the Amazon and other regions.
•Discover opportunities to partner with indigenous groups through short & long-term service, training, and advocacy.
•Partner with individuals an organizations dedicated to the empowering of indigenous groups all over the world.
See the film's webpage.

Royal Spanish Botanic Expedition

EXHIBITIONS
Exhibition: Royal Spanish Botanic Expedition 
Dates: from 25th april 2010

Place: Museu Etnològic, Barcelona, Spain

Admission: 3,50 € (free every Sunday afternoon)

Webpage: www.museuetnologic.bcn.es

Comments:

Barcelona’s Ethnologic Museum in its line of Latin American collections, presents an exhibition dedicated to Spanish botanist José Celestino Mutis.

José Celestino Mutis was an illustrated scientist and one of the firsts to study and divulge Columbian Flora. He worked as well for the Independency of the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada or Gran Colombia, which comprised nowadays Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador.

He was the leader of the Royal Botanic Expedition to Nueva Granada (1783-1816). Most of he’s work is stored at the Real Jardín Botánico of Madrid. During his apprenticeship in this institution as botanist, he met renowned catalan naturalists like Josep Quer, Joan Minuart and Miquel Barnades. Later, once established in America, he even maintained correspondence with Carl Linné, and Linné’s son, also a botanist, dedicated him a Columbian plant (Mutisia clematis).

More about José Celestino Mutis:

José Celestino Mutis (Cádiz, Spain, April 6, 1732—Bogotá (now in Colombia), September 11, 1808) was a Spanish botanist and mathematician.

He began his medical studies at the College of Surgery in Cádiz, where he also studied physics, chemistry and botany. He graduated in medicine from the University of Seville on May 2, 1755.

On July 5, 1757 he received his doctorate in medicine. From 1757 to 1760 he was interim professor of anatomy in Madrid. During those same years he continued to study botany at the Migas Calientes Botanical Gardens (now the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid), and also astronomy and mathematics.

After three years he decided to leave for America, as the private physician of the new viceroy of New Granada, Pedro Messía de la Cerda. He sailed on September 7, 1760, arriving at Santa Fe de Bogotá on February 24, 1761. During the long transatlantic passage he began writing his Diario de Observaciones, which he continued until 1791.

From his arrival in the Viceroyalty, Mutis concentrated on his botanical studies, beginning work on an herbal and investigating for chinchona, which was considered a panacea for the treatment of all kinds of diseases. He wrote El Arcano de la Quina.

Beginning in 1763, Mutis proposed to the king that he sponsor an expedition to study the flora and fauna of the region. He had to wait 20 years for the authorization, but in 1783 the king authorized his expedition (one of three royal botanical expeditions to the New World at about that time). In the interim, Mutis concentrated on commercial and mineralogical projects, not neglecting medicine. He also studied the social and economic conditions of the viceroyalty, and continued to expand his collection of flora and fauna. On December 19, 1772 he was ordained a priest. He was in regular correspondence with scientists in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, particularly Carl Linné.

Mutis led the Royal Botanical Expedition, established in 1783, for 25 years. It explored some 8,000 km² in a range of climates, using the Río Magdalena for access to the interior. He developed a meticulous methodology that included the harvesting of the samples in the field together with detailed descriptions, including data on the surroundings of each species and its utility. Hundreds of plants were discovered and described. More than 8,000 plates, plus maps, correspondence, notes and manuscripts were sent to Spain. His museum consisted of 24,000 dried plants, 5,000 drawings of plants by his pupils, and a collection of woods, shells, resins, minerals and skins. These treasures arrived safely at Madrid in 105 boxes, and the plants, manuscripts, and drawings were sent to the botanical gardens, where they were relegated to a tool-house.

However much of the work was wasted because the results remained unedited and unanalyzed. Also, the collation between the notes and the plates was lost during the transfer to Spain. His work on the species and varieties of chinchona had lasting influence.

He determined the longitude of Bogotá by the observation of an eclipse of a satellite of Jupiter and was a major influence on the construction of the National Astronomical Observatory.

In March 1762, at the inauguration of the chair of mathematics at the Colegio del Rosario, he expounded the principles of the Copernican system and of the experimental method of science, leading to a confrontation with the church. In 1774 he had to defend the teaching of the principles of Copernicus, as well as natural philosophy and modern, Newtonian physics and mathematics, before the Inquisition.

In 1784, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Alexander von Humboldt visited Mutis in 1801, during his expedition to America. Humboldt stayed with Mutis for two months, and greatly admired his botanical collection.

Mutis died in Bogotá on September 11, 1808 at 76 years of age, a victim of apoplexy. Because much of his botanical work was lost or unpublished, he is known to history not as a great scientist, but as a great promoter of science and knowledge.

His image was used in the old banknotes of 2000 pesetas.