More gold from CNN--I found this article today. A Brazilian governmental agency just came out with pictures of what it describes as one of the last "uncontacted" tribes of people on earth. According to the article, there are around 100 or so tribes in the world left that have never had contact with the outside world. Over half of them reside in the deep Amazon of Brazil and Peru and many of them are threatened by logging and deforestation.
This might be the romantic in me coming out, but there's something so compelling to me about this idea. Most of us watched and I read "Into the Wild" recently--except MAR who needs to get over the uninformed, yet opinionated French Canadian in himself--and this story somehow gave me a similar feeling, though I can't really tell why. At first I thought this might be exactly what McCandless was looking for, but then I started to think that not it at all--McCandless was a product of a system that he perceived to be evil or fucked up or something like that and he wanted out. These people are out. They've never been in. Isn't there something exciting about that?
Imagine hearing a foreign noise and then looking up and seeing something hovering by in the sky and having no idea what it is. What did these people think after the helicopter flew overhead? A sign from the gods? An omen of the coming apocalypse? Sheer terror? I can't even begin to imagine.
Either way, there is some sort of organization working to make sure that deforestation and logging don't disturb these uncontacted tribes--obviously, I couldn't support their cause more. While globalization has ushered in a new era of communication, exchange of ideas, and free flow of communication, we all too often ignore the negatives that accompany globalization--namely, the erosion of culture. Don't get me wrong--I'm all aboard the globalization train. However, I think that, especially in the society in which we were raised, adherence to a particular culture is often perceived as one dimensional or closed minded or even ignorant.
I think that the importance of cultural preservation is only going to grow as the "dark" corners of the world (I'm taking on the voice of an imperialist intentionally) become "illuminated" by our nosiness and arrogance. Already, something like 1 language disappears every 14 days.
I can only hope that seeing a helicopter fly overhead is the only bullshit these people have to deal with and that whoever has access to them decides to respect their land and culture. Already, the article says some group has been monitoring them for 20 years, which sounds like what you do with herds of buffalo and it sort of makes me want to vomit. I can just imagine some True Life: Encino Man Discovery Geographic special about one of these tribe and I'd like to think I'd have the strength to boycott.
P.S.--Into the Wild will be an upcoming weekly topic MAR
3 comments:
Maybe they could make a reality show out of it? "Naked Amazon Man in New York City!" Sells itself.
Interesting article. Culture is evolutionary in nature though, so I'm always wary of attempts to 'preserve' it. I always feel like someone somewhere will preserve what we can, and the rest is molded, change, and destroyed in much the same manner as the "creative destruction" of the free market.
Stork said the same thing when I talked to him on Saturday. You economists and your free market trumps all. I refuse to believe that I cannot question to 100% benign/beneficial effect of the free market.
Maybe, but I think it's not a stretch to say that 99% of all human culture ever developed (however one chooses to define it) has already been destroyed by subsequent culture. Much, or most of this, has been by the same culture.
I dunno, "preserving" culture in an active form that does not occur naturally just feels vaguely paternalistic to me. Especially as we actively move towards a truly global culture....or at least a set of deeply integrated cultures.
What if one of those men aiming a bow and arrow at the plane would cut off his own leg to join modern society if given the chance? The very fact that we decide for them that their culture should be preserved, and they should not be contacted feels like the old concept of the "noble savage".
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