The Ashaninka have a long history
of resistance, standing up to invaders since the time of the Inca
empire until the rubber boom of the nineteenth century and,
especially those on the Brazilian side of the border, resisting
the encroaches of loggers from the 1980s to today. A people proud
of their culture, driven by strong sense of freedom, ready to die
in defence of their territory, the Ashaninka are no mere objects
of western history. They possess an astonishing capacity to
reconcile traditional customs and values with ideas and practices
from the western world, such as those to do with
socio-environmental sustainability.
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José
Pimenta
Anthropologist, temporary lecturer, Department of
Anthropology, University of Brasília and associate
researcher, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
(IRD)
josepimenta@hotmail.com
September 2005
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