Corey's Ethnographic Post

The Effects of the Modern World on the Kayapo

The Kayapo have been subjected to many threats that have not only challenged their way of life but also threaten their very existence. The research that I have conducted involves the ways that the Kayapo have adapted to different situations they have faced. I will be talking about two main problems. The first is the effect of the modern world on the Kayapo. It has affected their way of life, the land they possess, and their population. The second problem I will discuss is diseases that the Kayapo have faced and overcome. I will talk briefly on each and discuss how they affect the Kayapo.

The modern world has had a huge effect on the Kayapo, but the Kayapo have fought back and kept their traditions. In 1900's the population was 4000, in the 1970's it was 1300 this is due to a lot of factors. One of the major factors is disease which I will talk about later. Other factors were people coming in looking for their own personal gain. Examples are minors, loggers, rubber tappers, and ranchers. The Kayapo didn’t like this but missionary organizations and government agencies tried to calm the people by giving them trade goods. These trade goods were objects such as clothing, cooking utensils, machetes, and axes. These were things that helped the Kayapo. However, this boom of new people brought many consequences, some of which were not intended such as bringing new diseases to the Kayapo. The Kayapo had enough of people coming into their land and they rallied in the 1980 and 90s. Kayapo war parties were formed and they got rid of illegal ranchers and gold miners. Sometimes they would offer the choice of them leaving or they would be killed. The Kayapo warriors took control of many important river crossings and began to patrol their borders. An interesting fact I found was that they sent the people they captured back to town without their clothes. The leaders of the Kayapo realized that this could not continue forever and in a way to keep their land their leaders adapted by learning Portuguese. This allowed them to get help from different conservation agencies and eventually they secured legal recognition of their territory.

Diseases were introduced to the Kayapo through the increase of foreigners coming into the Kayapos land. These foreigners may not have had diseases at the time they were there but they had been exposed to these diseases. Examples are measles and other diseases. The native people had no immunity to these so they began to extract the diseases. The diseases the Kayapo were faced with were serious diseases, and in result many of them would die. I couldn’t find any information on how they tried to treat the diseases. As a nursing student I do know a little bit about the disease process for measles. Here in the United States it is easy to treat because we have vaccines for it. The Kayapo didn’t, and measles is very contagious. Measles is transmitted through droplets. This means that if someone coughs, sneezes, or shares something with you, you could get the diseases. Also measles can travel through the air for a short distance. For these reasons measles is very contagious and a village would be very susceptible to transmission. Now Measles in itself doesn’t necessarily kill people it’s the complications that arise from it that are severe. Some of these serious complications that arise are pneumonia and brain inflammation. If these complications aren’t treated in a timely matter death is imminent.    

In conclusion the Kayapo have been faced with many threats that have indeed threatened their existence and have reduced their population. The Kayapo have however always fought back and overcome these threats whether it’s from protecting their land or fighting off diseases. The Kayapo have always risen to the occasion and I believe they will continue to due this with whatever issues they face in the future as a people.

Works cited

Brown, C. (2014). Kayapo Courage. National Geographic, 225(1), 30.

Amundsen-Meyer, L.M. (2013). Nature versus Culture: A Comparison of Blackfoot and
Kayapo Resource  Management. Canadian Journal Of Archaeology, 37(2), 219-247.