Professor says Amerindians need re-intergration, help preserving land

By Alexis Austin

austina@mytjnow.com

Professor Richard Chacon with a Yanomamo man hunting near the village Poremababopateri in the Amazon basin. Photo Courtesy of L. SugiyamaRichard Chacon spent every summer in the 1990’s working with the Achuar peoples of Ecuador. In his time there, he has seen a lot and learned a lot more, too.

“Before going, I believed that the native people were innate conservationist because that’s what I read in all the books,” he said. 

Chacon and Ruben Mendoza, professor of social and behavioral sciences at California State University, Monterey Bay, will be releasing a book called “Ethics of Anthropology and Amerindian Research: Reporting on Environmental Degradation and Warfare.” 

The book, for which Chacon and Mendoza are editors, discusses the Amerindian lifestyle and their relationship with the land on which they reside. 

“The book covers the native peoples of the entire Western Hemisphere,” Chacon said. “It talks about how native people fought and it resulted in environmental degradation and that sometimes these groups mismanaged the environment.” 

This will be Chacon and Mendoza’s third book together. As an edited volume, the book includes professors from all over the country. Of the 21 contributors, five are of Amerindian ancestry and many others have worked with Amerindians. 

“Mendoza is an archaeologist and I am a cultural anthropologist. His area of expertise is different from mine, so we work well together,” Chacon said. “I had no trouble in recruiting people to talk about this because it is something they all felt strongly about.”

Chacon points out that the book is not intended to show that because Amerindian people fought and mismanaged their land they are barbaric or uncivilized, but to show that they are human and make mistakes, too. 

“The fact is they are human just like you and I. We need to re-integrate the native people with the rest of humanity,” he said. “We have dehumanized them by showing them as always being peaceful and useful with the land.” 

He also said there are many instances in which native people do manage the land properly but people make the mistake of believing this will always be the case for all Amerindians. 

One of the problems that has resulted in the mismanagement of land is the lack thereof, Chacon said. This has resulted in local extinctions and overuse of the land. 

“Thanks to medicine, the native peoples populations are growing, but the land base isn’t. Instead, governments are looking for ways to take their land,” he said.

Just as Americans and Europeans fought in wars to defend their territory, Amerindians do so as well.

“We are showing that they are not savages but people willing to risk their lives to protect each other and defend their territories,” Chacon said.

The contributors along with Mendoza and Chacon propose that governments should work with the native people of their countries to come up with a solution to preserve the land. 

“This book puts forth that governments, community leaders and native peoples should form a team. They must make sure native people are a part of the solution,” he said. 

While Chacon knows that there will be critics, he says he hopes the book will get people talking and wanting to help the Amerindians.

“I don’t intend for this to be the final word,” he said. “But I hope that it gets a dialogue started, not name calling or accusations. I am eager to hear counter-arguments.”