Corey's Reflexive Post

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Corey's Reflexive Post

Reflexive post

Nowadays people have a pretty good conception of equality between different cultures and people. However in the past this was simply not the case. People came into the Kayapo land for their own personal gain and cared nothing about preserving the Kayapo land and resources. During my research I found a few things I can relate to from personal experience.

First I was kind of surprised when I found out that the Kayapo would sometimes kill people who trespassed on their land. However, they normally would confront the people first and tell them to leave. This feeling of the land belonging to them is something I can relate to. I do a lot of deer hunting and fishing. I have a few properties that I can go on. On a few occasions I have dealt with trespassers. Even though I don’t own the land I still feel like it’s my place to go. So I can relate to the feelings or anger and frustration when people trespass onto my land. Plus in the Kayapo case the people trespassing were bringing diseases to the people. So that would just increase these feelings and wants of these trespassers being off their land. As I talked about in my ethnographic post the Kayapo would get legal paperwork for their land so then they could legally control the issues of trespassers.

One thing I can’t relate to first hand but can relate to is disease. Working in the healthcare field I have dealt with many people with different diseases. Diseases are often transported from people to people so was the case for the Kayapo. I’m not sure how the Kayapo treated the different diseases. They may have isolated the people that were sick or the missionaries and different agencies brought over treatments. I do know that the Kayapo were very afraid of these diseases just like a lot of patients that I have dealt with. This is a normal response. I was really glad that the Kayapo overcame these diseases and are thriving to this very day.

The point I am trying to make in this reflexive post is just how my personal experiences have influenced the way I think about the Kayapo and the research that I conducted on them. Another main point that I’m trying to make is that the rights of everyone need to be equal. Everything we do can have an effect on someone else. For the Kayapo it was outsiders trying to get personal gain. These outsiders were selfish and didn’t think about the effect they would have on the native population. So just remember what you do does have effect on others around you.

1 comment:

UnknownNovember 3, 2015 at 4:23 PM
Good reflexive comment. Thank you Corey!
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Geographic Post

We are known as the Kayapo. You might recognize us by our name, or even by our culture. One reason why you might remember our tribe is because we are one of the main Amerindian (native) groups that still remain in the rainforest. What rainforest is that? The rainforest that we habitat is located around the Amazon River in Brazil. A particular cultural aspect that is significant to us is our ability to become fierce warriors. We would raid enemy tribes, but sometimes we would also fight among ourselves. Lastly, we are a tribe of resilience and honor. We resisted assimilation in the end; the dominant culture would never convince us to follow their ways.

Yes, we resisted assimilation, but many other dangers threaten, and did threaten our culture. For example, logging and mining have proved themselves to be hazardous to our people's lives. To add to that, when other cultures agricultural activities spread into our jungle land, it would wipe out properties and harvest. For thousands of years, tribes such as ours have taken the time to balance humans, plants, and animals throughout our homeland. So, as long as we remain a tribe, we will keep working on maintaining that delicate and intricate balance.

http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Brazil-to-Congo-Republic-of/Kayapos.html

"Kayapos." Countires and Their Cultures. N.p., n.d. Web.

Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission: The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project is a cultural anthropology course-based project meant to raise critical consciousness about the rich cultural diversity in our world. Being totally aware of the limitations of being outsiders, we are a group of multidisciplinary undergraduate students who believe in cross-cultural sensitivity and participatory agency aimed at disseminating information about indigenous realities as accurately as possible.

Vision: The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project’s vision is to create an online cross-cultural space for students, professionals, and youth to learn and exchange cross-culturally sensitive information about contemporary indigenous experiences. From that outsider student’s perspective, we will try to theoretically explore possible collaborative solutions to problems that affect the indigenous populations of our planet. Finally, we hope for the future creation of a space where indigenous youth can share their experiences and their realities with us for real mutual collaboration to take place.

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 We value the maximization of benefits to indigenous peoples and other Vulnerable populations in the world.
 We value the respect for persons all over the world.
 We value the equal treatment of people, and we are against the exploitation of Vulnerable groups around the world.
 We value collaborative cross-cultural learning and critical thinking