Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 4, 2007 13:16:04 GMT -5
Ikpeng leader documents his tribe's struggle
by: Jim Adams
courtesy Michelle Svenson, FVC -- Kumare Txicao Ikpeng, president of the
Ikpeng Tribal Association of Brazil, gave a featured screening at the
13th Native American Film and Video Festival of his video on the first
contact of his Amazonian tribe with the outside world in 1964. He stood
by a mural presending the festival at the National Museum of the
American Indian's George Gustav Heye Center along with Vincent Carelli
and Mari Correa, co-producer with Ikpeng, from the Brazilian filmmaking
project Video in the Villages/Video nas Aldeias. NEW YORK - Karume
Txicao Ikpeng, a leader of the Ikpeng Indians of the Amazon, ranked as
one of the stars of the recent Native American Film and Video Festival
at the National Museum of the American Indian's George Gustav Heye
Center. He presented two impressive films, a charming video/letter from
the children of his village in central Brazil and a darker record of the
Ikpeng people's travails since their first contact with the outside
world in 1964.
But he also plays a central role in the Ikpeng struggle for restitution,
which is now entering a crucial phase. Just 28, he is president of the
Ikpeng National Association, which is petitioning the Brazilian
government for its return to ancestral lands. He is also deeply involved
in the range of social services which the tribe receives on the Xingu
Indigenous Park. His story encapsulates the Brazilian tribes' brush with
extinction and their dramatic recovery.
''When I was a child, my grandfather told me the story of a noisy bird
that changed our life forever,'' Karume' said to introduce his gripping
documentary, ''My First Contact'' (''Meu primeiro contato''). Filmed
with support of the Brazilian foundation Video in the Villages (Video
nas Aldeias) and co-produced by that group's Mari Correa, the video
gives the tribe's perspective on the fateful day when the famous
Villa-Boas brothers flew overhead in a light plane. With some humor,
naked elders re-enacted their terrified efforts to drive away the craft
with their arrows and their reaction when it dropped an introductory
parcel of foodstuffs. ''The bird just pooped,'' they shouted.
The Villa-Boas plane returned the next day, this time somewhat bizarrely
dropping a bundle of fashion magazines. It landed in the clearing
dominated by the Ikpengs' maloca, the huge thatched communal dwelling.
Out step Claudio and Leonardo Villas-Boas, explorers and activists for
indigenous rights. What follows was captured in archival footage. A
shirtless bear of a man, Claudio Villas-Boas gave the diminutive Ikpeng
great hugs and handed them lighted cigarettes. It's not a bad metaphor
for the dubious benefits of even the best-intended first contact.
The Villas-Boas brothers, it turned out, were just two steps ahead of
more malevolent intruders: European miners eager to exploit Ikpeng land
and women. They soon persuaded the beleaguered band to relocate to the
vast reserve they had persuaded the national government to set aside for
the forest tribes of the Mata Grosso, the Xingu Indigenous Park. This
reserve of about 6.5 million acres is now home to nearly 6,000 Natives
from 14 peoples. More archival footage showed the river voyage of the
band, so reduced in numbers that it fit into one scow. (In spite of the
delayed formal contact, the Ikpeng were already
feeling outside pressure. Several years earlier they had suffered a
devastating defeat in a war with a neighboring tribe wielding firearms.)
Western friends of the Ikpeng argue that the alternative to relocation
was probably extermination, but the shock of the move was lethal enough.
When the tribesmen landed in the middle of traditional enemies, only the
personal intervention of the Villas-Boas brothers kept them safe. As it
was, of the 57 Ikpeng crammed into the boat for the transfer, 27 died
within the first month. Still, the indigenous reserves have not only
stabilized the situation of the Ikpeng and other tribes, they have
allowed a remarkable resurgence. The Ikpeng, Kumare' said in December,
now number 399 and would soon be 400.
Kumare' himself was born in the Xingu Park, one of the first generation
of Ikpeng to grow up under European influence. In an interview at the
George Gustav Heye Center, long triangles of tribal tattoos marked his
cheekbones and a heavy earring dangled from one lobe, but he also
proudly wore a black windbreaker he had received as a participant in the
Native American Film and Video Festival. Speaking Portuguese through an
interpreter, he expressed regret that his age group had lost some tribal
customs and survival skills. ''But the younger ones are learning them
again,'' he said.
Instead of hunting and fishing by beating toxic vines into the water,
Kumare' is representing the tribe in its dealings with the Brazilian
government and the outside world. He sits on the health and education
councils, and supervises the Ikpeng outpost of Funai, the Fundacao
Nacional do Indio (the Brazilian equivalent of the BIA). ''I'm all the
time running from meeting to meeting,'' he complained. ''I'm doing six
different things all at one time.'' In addition to tribal duties, he has
also produced four videos, two of which were featured at the festival.
Kumare' was educated to the equivalent of the eighth grade. (The tribe
hopes to open a secondary school soon.) But he said he has learned much
more through extensive travel through South American capitals; Paris,
France; and three visits to the United States. He regretted the time
spent away from home. ''But people in the tribe catch fish for my
family,'' he said.
His top priority these days is the tribe's struggle through the courts
and the federal bureaucracy for a return to at least some of its
original land. It has help from lawyers for the Instituto
Socioambiental, a leading Brazilian society for environmental and
indigenous protection that succeeded in restoring the homeland of the
Panara' people in 2003. The Ikpeng situation is more difficult, since a
number of farms have encroached on the abandoned tribal land. But
Kumare' said he hopes that at least a portion of the ancestral river
valley can be annexed to the Xingu Park. He said he expects a
preliminary decision on their petition by early next year.
His video documents a poignant visit by elders to their original
clearing. Now wearing Western clothes, including a blue T-shirt from the
New York Film Academy, they remember their past life with nostalgia but
show a remarkable readiness to confront the modern world. ''We used to
fight with bows and arrows,'' said Oiope' Ikpeng, ''but now we fight
with paper, because paper hurts more.''
Jim Adams is a historian at the Smithsonian National Museum of the
American Indian.
by: Jim Adams
courtesy Michelle Svenson, FVC -- Kumare Txicao Ikpeng, president of the
Ikpeng Tribal Association of Brazil, gave a featured screening at the
13th Native American Film and Video Festival of his video on the first
contact of his Amazonian tribe with the outside world in 1964. He stood
by a mural presending the festival at the National Museum of the
American Indian's George Gustav Heye Center along with Vincent Carelli
and Mari Correa, co-producer with Ikpeng, from the Brazilian filmmaking
project Video in the Villages/Video nas Aldeias. NEW YORK - Karume
Txicao Ikpeng, a leader of the Ikpeng Indians of the Amazon, ranked as
one of the stars of the recent Native American Film and Video Festival
at the National Museum of the American Indian's George Gustav Heye
Center. He presented two impressive films, a charming video/letter from
the children of his village in central Brazil and a darker record of the
Ikpeng people's travails since their first contact with the outside
world in 1964.
But he also plays a central role in the Ikpeng struggle for restitution,
which is now entering a crucial phase. Just 28, he is president of the
Ikpeng National Association, which is petitioning the Brazilian
government for its return to ancestral lands. He is also deeply involved
in the range of social services which the tribe receives on the Xingu
Indigenous Park. His story encapsulates the Brazilian tribes' brush with
extinction and their dramatic recovery.
''When I was a child, my grandfather told me the story of a noisy bird
that changed our life forever,'' Karume' said to introduce his gripping
documentary, ''My First Contact'' (''Meu primeiro contato''). Filmed
with support of the Brazilian foundation Video in the Villages (Video
nas Aldeias) and co-produced by that group's Mari Correa, the video
gives the tribe's perspective on the fateful day when the famous
Villa-Boas brothers flew overhead in a light plane. With some humor,
naked elders re-enacted their terrified efforts to drive away the craft
with their arrows and their reaction when it dropped an introductory
parcel of foodstuffs. ''The bird just pooped,'' they shouted.
The Villa-Boas plane returned the next day, this time somewhat bizarrely
dropping a bundle of fashion magazines. It landed in the clearing
dominated by the Ikpengs' maloca, the huge thatched communal dwelling.
Out step Claudio and Leonardo Villas-Boas, explorers and activists for
indigenous rights. What follows was captured in archival footage. A
shirtless bear of a man, Claudio Villas-Boas gave the diminutive Ikpeng
great hugs and handed them lighted cigarettes. It's not a bad metaphor
for the dubious benefits of even the best-intended first contact.
The Villas-Boas brothers, it turned out, were just two steps ahead of
more malevolent intruders: European miners eager to exploit Ikpeng land
and women. They soon persuaded the beleaguered band to relocate to the
vast reserve they had persuaded the national government to set aside for
the forest tribes of the Mata Grosso, the Xingu Indigenous Park. This
reserve of about 6.5 million acres is now home to nearly 6,000 Natives
from 14 peoples. More archival footage showed the river voyage of the
band, so reduced in numbers that it fit into one scow. (In spite of the
delayed formal contact, the Ikpeng were already
feeling outside pressure. Several years earlier they had suffered a
devastating defeat in a war with a neighboring tribe wielding firearms.)
Western friends of the Ikpeng argue that the alternative to relocation
was probably extermination, but the shock of the move was lethal enough.
When the tribesmen landed in the middle of traditional enemies, only the
personal intervention of the Villas-Boas brothers kept them safe. As it
was, of the 57 Ikpeng crammed into the boat for the transfer, 27 died
within the first month. Still, the indigenous reserves have not only
stabilized the situation of the Ikpeng and other tribes, they have
allowed a remarkable resurgence. The Ikpeng, Kumare' said in December,
now number 399 and would soon be 400.
Kumare' himself was born in the Xingu Park, one of the first generation
of Ikpeng to grow up under European influence. In an interview at the
George Gustav Heye Center, long triangles of tribal tattoos marked his
cheekbones and a heavy earring dangled from one lobe, but he also
proudly wore a black windbreaker he had received as a participant in the
Native American Film and Video Festival. Speaking Portuguese through an
interpreter, he expressed regret that his age group had lost some tribal
customs and survival skills. ''But the younger ones are learning them
again,'' he said.
Instead of hunting and fishing by beating toxic vines into the water,
Kumare' is representing the tribe in its dealings with the Brazilian
government and the outside world. He sits on the health and education
councils, and supervises the Ikpeng outpost of Funai, the Fundacao
Nacional do Indio (the Brazilian equivalent of the BIA). ''I'm all the
time running from meeting to meeting,'' he complained. ''I'm doing six
different things all at one time.'' In addition to tribal duties, he has
also produced four videos, two of which were featured at the festival.
Kumare' was educated to the equivalent of the eighth grade. (The tribe
hopes to open a secondary school soon.) But he said he has learned much
more through extensive travel through South American capitals; Paris,
France; and three visits to the United States. He regretted the time
spent away from home. ''But people in the tribe catch fish for my
family,'' he said.
His top priority these days is the tribe's struggle through the courts
and the federal bureaucracy for a return to at least some of its
original land. It has help from lawyers for the Instituto
Socioambiental, a leading Brazilian society for environmental and
indigenous protection that succeeded in restoring the homeland of the
Panara' people in 2003. The Ikpeng situation is more difficult, since a
number of farms have encroached on the abandoned tribal land. But
Kumare' said he hopes that at least a portion of the ancestral river
valley can be annexed to the Xingu Park. He said he expects a
preliminary decision on their petition by early next year.
His video documents a poignant visit by elders to their original
clearing. Now wearing Western clothes, including a blue T-shirt from the
New York Film Academy, they remember their past life with nostalgia but
show a remarkable readiness to confront the modern world. ''We used to
fight with bows and arrows,'' said Oiope' Ikpeng, ''but now we fight
with paper, because paper hurts more.''
Jim Adams is a historian at the Smithsonian National Museum of the
American Indian.