from:
Film
of Jens Schanze:
San José - ein Dorf im Regenwald; In: Die Nacht der Indianer
[San José - a village in the rain forest; In: The night of
the natives]; Norddeutsches Fernsehen N3 [Northern German
Television N3], 2003-12-14, 4:25-5:10
-- the Tacana natives are wearing Western clothes, all are
clothed
-- the region of the Tacana is amidst of the rain forest.
The destruction of the
nomad culture by the missionary
-- in 1716 the
missionary station San José de Uchu Piemonas was opened
-- untill this time the Tacana were living in the forest as
nomads, and the forest gave them what they needed
-- the missionary station was extended into a "village", with 40
[enslaved] families
-- then the catastrophe happened: Because of introduced
illnesses almost all died
-- and by this the Tacanas were "brought" to fill again the
"village".
Destruction of the soil
by settledness
-- from the
foundation of the village on the fields were always the same
-- the soil is leached out, and the inhabitants have to stub
always new land, first by slashing, and then by little fires
-- the fields do not have regeneration time anymore, and the
fields are larger and larger so the rain is carrying away
the upper layer, too.
Language
-- the Takana speak Ketschua
and Spanish
Housing
-- for rooftops it
needs 500 traceries of palm leaves for one roof
-- the roof holds for about 20 years against the tropical
rain.
Cooking
-- the Tacana live
without fluent water or electricity
-- but they have a covered water place
Vegetables
-- yuca is a
sort of manjoc
-- the field is cultivated some years only, this is enough
for the poor wood soil [the soil is not prepared for a
village culture!]
-- an old metal bucket with wholes is used as rasper to
prepare yuca porridge
-- when yuca is rosted and melted with water and shugar so
it will be a chibé drink.
Corn, rice, sugar cane
-- corn, rice and
sugar cane are cultivated
-- harvest of rice: The rice grain is seperated from the
spear by drying the plants and walking on them, the rest
will be done by the wind so the glumes are flying away
-- production of sugar: The sugar cane is pressed in a sugar
cane press, then the juice is kept in a bucket - the juice
will be cooked for hours untill the juice is pasty - so the
pasty sugar juice will be filled into forms - and the forms
have to be cooled down - so the mass of sugar is created.
Lumbering for farming
-- women are doing
all, also lumbering
-- there is lumbered 2 ha forest every year to have new
fields, first the clearing, then little fires
-- the forest will fill the gap within 15 years "when one
let him do so"
-- the ashes provoke a better fertility of the soil and
hinder the entrance of vermins, and the seeds are put
directly into the ashes.
State of emergency of
nutrition: There are hardly animals in the forest
-- vegetables and
fruits are not sufficient
-- fish and meat are hardly available, and there are no
animals left in the village
-- in former times there were wild animals, monkeys and hens
by the way, but today all has gone
-- the chase needs new ways today
-- it's a chase with rifle, not with dart and bow anymore
-- in former times there was chase for water pigs, now for
monkeys, but also the monkeys are more and more rare
-- there are whole groups of monkeys killed
-- and in the village the domestic animals are missing!
Education
-- the children like
to go to school because they do not have to work in the
field so
-- education language is Spanish
-- in 1945 the first school had been founded, and the state
has enlagred it relatively well with furniture etc.
Natural medicine
Coca bush
-- the coca bush is a
medical plant
-- chawing coca leaves reduces the feeling to be hungry a
little bit.
Seeds of palms
-- seeds of palms
stamped to oil give an oil for wounds.
Meeting of the village council.
Lumbering: Work with the
machete - mahogany is sold black
-- the mahogany trees
in the forest are sold black
-- the price for mahogany has tripled in the last 10 years
-- in San José there is "no other work" to do but lumbering
black
-- the natives think they are poor and are lumbering their
own forest
-- the wood is prepared in the forest and is cut into
shelves
-- the transport is done by foot through the forest, shelf
for shelf on the shoulders.
Festivals on behalf of
the white "civilization"
-- there is the
national day with homage to the "home country" on behalf of
the revolutionary and fighter for independence Bolivar
-- the natives also have to go to military service, for
example to the barracks of Rurunabake
[and by this they are torn off their home culture, a brutal
"civilization"]
-- on the walls of the native's houses are hanging the idols
of the "civilization": Bruce Lee, soccer teams
-- when a tree is sold "civilized" food will be bought with
this money, in Rununabake: spaghettis, wheat flour, sugar,
and also the rent for the boat has to be paid
-- once a year a soccer competition is organized between the
villages.
Migration into cities
-- is going on to La Paz, Caranabi, for an
"easy" life
-- many people of the younger generation do not come back to
the village after the military service, because the village
is only accessible by foot and there is nothing "going on"
there
The culture destruction
at the Tacana natives
-- the Tacanas are
fully dressed like Europeans, proud girls in quilling
dresses are sitting there with a flute
-- the Tacanas have lost their dances and songs
-- but there is a radio in the native's hut
-- the father's dream is a formation for the son in an
university, and therefore he cuts the trees to have money
for the children's formation
-- step by step the whole native village is "civilized" by
white goods, white food, and add to this the transportation
of this food costs, too
-- the traditions are lost by the flight from poverty, and
medical science does hardly exist yet.
Sewing
-- is done with a
sewing machine without electricity.
Pottery becomes extinct
-- "Pottery pots are not needed anymore": In former times
every broken fragment was collected, crushed into powder and
together with fresh brickearth new clay was
produced
-- and in the pots malt beer was produced etc.
Mixture of bloody ritus and
technique: Bloody sacrifice for motorboats, festivals
with a radio
-- near the Rio Tuichi a bloody sacrifice is
organized for two motorboats which have been given from an
aid organization
-- under the leadership of an old shaman a cow is
slaughtered, and the shaman cannot find a successor
-- the boats are sanctified with the cow's blood and with
hard liquor and with confetti
-- the inauguration festival is organized with a radio aside
the river where they are dancing, but nobody is singing. The
radio is singing...
The cultural identity of the Tacana natives has been lost
completely.
[The false belief of the "civilization" takes the last
living base of the Tacanas: the forest. Instead to see the
logical connections and to protect the forest they depend on
the food of the "white man" and spend money for the
transportation. They do not want to be "farmers" because
they feel minor then. They want to jump into the life of the
town residents without an agricultural base. This plan has
it's price: clear-cutting and dissolving of the village].
This
is
the End of a
native's culture.
