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Contact was not a positive experience for the Guajá
as they suffered heavy population losses. For hunter-gatherers
in general the archeological record also shows that the
transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture brings
on many complications for newly settled groups. Permanent
settlement has many health implications in terms of poorer
diets and infectious diseases brought on by poor sanitary
conditions and denser populations. But the Guajá
case is unique, although similar to many other indigenous
groups in modern history, in that they fell prey to contagious
diseases incurred by FUNAI's contact agents and other
elements of the encroaching frontier. In one particular
outpost, Post Guajá, situated on the Alto Turiaçu
Reserve, contact was conducted in a haphazard manner and,
as a result, between 1976 and 1980 roughly 67 individuals
died out of a population of 91 people. Most of these deaths
came from malaria and influenza. This particular community
has slowly recovered from these losses and currently has
a population of 60 people.
One of the consequences of this demographic
decline among the Guajá is the disparity in their
sex ratios. At one time there was a disproportionate
sex ratio of three men to one women of reproductive
age at both Posts Guajá and Juriti, the latter
located on the Caru River, situated on northern limits
of the Caru Reserve. This disparity has created a number
of polyandrous associations, where one women cohabits
with two or more men, a situation similar to that encountered
among the Suruí from Tocantins. Apparently, this
type of union represents a Guajá effort to recover
from population losses. At Post Awá the demographic
structure was more intact and marriages among members
of this community were generally more monogamous, although
there were some incidents of poligynous marriages.
Currently there are approximately 234 Guajá
residing on four semi-nucleated settlements aministered
by FUNAI on the Alto Turiaçu and Caru Reserves,
located near Posts Guajá, Awá, Juriti
and Tiracambu. There is no definite consensus as to
the number of uncontacted Guajá, yet it is believed
that it is no more than 30. Prior to this inference,
population estimates were larger for the number of uncontacted
Guajá. Although former population figures for
uncontacted Guajá were higher, these latter calculations
could have been inflated in a FUNAI effort to draw more
resources to its Guajá Program. Additionally,
as regional settlement encroaches upon them, more Guajá
groups will be contacted and those that remain uncontacted
can fall easy prey to hostilities and disease, without
any outside observer ever having knowledge of their
whereabouts.
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