The Amerindian Good Living as a Sustainable Alternative …
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science and technology in activities such as monitoring their territory and managing
their socio-biodiverse patrimony, for example.
6 Ashaninka (Acre-Brazil)
The Ashaninka indigenous community of the Ammonia River is a people with a
history of resistance since the time of the Inca Empire (from which they broke up
and fled to the interior of the Amazon rainforest) and Spanish colonization. At the end
of the 19th century some members of this Peruvian origin ethnicity were brought
to the Brazilian lands by the rubber bosses (caucheiros) that kept them enslaved
and exploited, in addition, they resisted the timber until the mid-1980s. After this
sad period of its history and after the demarcation of the Indigenous Land and the
connection with the organs of the Brazilian government, the state of Acre and national
and international NGOs, this people has been transformed. They are giving a new
meaning to their culture and today they are known as the Guardians of the Forest.
It is outstanding how they have the ability to maintain their tradition while at the
same time, they absorb the aspects of modernity and of development used for the
protection of their territory and the preservation of their culture. These people are
proud of their culture, they are moved by an acute feeling of freedom, ready to die to
defend their territory, the Ashaninka are not mere objects of Western history. Their
ability to reconcile traditional customs and values with ideas and practices in the
white world, such as those linked to socio-environmental sustainability (ISA 2018a,
b, c), is admirable. Projects such as the Yorenka Ãtame Center (Knowledge Forest),
which is focused on the dialogue of knowledges, the management of yellow-spotted
Amazon river turtles that returns thousands of specimen to the rivers every year, the
agroforestry that produces food in abundance in the community, which helps the
preservation of the ecosystem, the use of solar energy and satellite monitoring of
the indigenous territory represent the capacity of intercultural dialogue (APIWTXA
2017).
In addition, they have manioc and rice groves and today they develop some of the
best sustainable management projects in Acre, both in the forest area and in the areas
of wild animals and bees. They have already reforested, with of diesel tree (copaiba),
tonka beans (cumaru), tree stonecrop (balsamo) and mainly mahogany trees, more
than 40 ha of areas that had been devastated by the white people that occupied the
region before its demarcation as Indigenous land.
The natives have also planted more than five hectares near the central village with
regional fruit trees, such as cupuaçu, graviola, sapoti, abiu, and mango. In addition,
they chose large areas of forest for the repopulation of wild animals, which were
disappearing from the region due to predatory hunting promoted by the white people
prior to demarcation. In those areas, people are not going to hunt for a long time
so that the animals multiply and repopulate the forest. Over 1600 coconut seedlings
have also been planted throughout the villages. Large red footed tortoises are bred in
captivity. In the middle of the Central Village, a small weir has already accumulated
267
science and technology in activities such as monitoring their territory and managing
their socio-biodiverse patrimony, for example.
6 Ashaninka (Acre-Brazil)
The Ashaninka indigenous community of the Ammonia River is a people with a
history of resistance since the time of the Inca Empire (from which they broke up
and fled to the interior of the Amazon rainforest) and Spanish colonization. At the end
of the 19th century some members of this Peruvian origin ethnicity were brought
to the Brazilian lands by the rubber bosses (caucheiros) that kept them enslaved
and exploited, in addition, they resisted the timber until the mid-1980s. After this
sad period of its history and after the demarcation of the Indigenous Land and the
connection with the organs of the Brazilian government, the state of Acre and national
and international NGOs, this people has been transformed. They are giving a new
meaning to their culture and today they are known as the Guardians of the Forest.
It is outstanding how they have the ability to maintain their tradition while at the
same time, they absorb the aspects of modernity and of development used for the
protection of their territory and the preservation of their culture. These people are
proud of their culture, they are moved by an acute feeling of freedom, ready to die to
defend their territory, the Ashaninka are not mere objects of Western history. Their
ability to reconcile traditional customs and values with ideas and practices in the
white world, such as those linked to socio-environmental sustainability (ISA 2018a,
b, c), is admirable. Projects such as the Yorenka Ãtame Center (Knowledge Forest),
which is focused on the dialogue of knowledges, the management of yellow-spotted
Amazon river turtles that returns thousands of specimen to the rivers every year, the
agroforestry that produces food in abundance in the community, which helps the
preservation of the ecosystem, the use of solar energy and satellite monitoring of
the indigenous territory represent the capacity of intercultural dialogue (APIWTXA
2017).
In addition, they have manioc and rice groves and today they develop some of the
best sustainable management projects in Acre, both in the forest area and in the areas
of wild animals and bees. They have already reforested, with of diesel tree (copaiba),
tonka beans (cumaru), tree stonecrop (balsamo) and mainly mahogany trees, more
than 40 ha of areas that had been devastated by the white people that occupied the
region before its demarcation as Indigenous land.
The natives have also planted more than five hectares near the central village with
regional fruit trees, such as cupuaçu, graviola, sapoti, abiu, and mango. In addition,
they chose large areas of forest for the repopulation of wild animals, which were
disappearing from the region due to predatory hunting promoted by the white people
prior to demarcation. In those areas, people are not going to hunt for a long time
so that the animals multiply and repopulate the forest. Over 1600 coconut seedlings
have also been planted throughout the villages. Large red footed tortoises are bred in
captivity. In the middle of the Central Village, a small weir has already accumulated