The Amazonian Visual Culture and Politics - Thesis Example

The Amazonian Visual Culture and Politics The article talks about the Amazonians and their culture while correlating it to the western generally accepted cultural standard. Amazonians prefer to hold dear their culture of dwelling in the forest that despite, despite their proximity to the strong modernization going on in the Brazilian nation, most of them are either not ready or are reluctantly willing to let go their culture. The culture of Indians here is majorly visual cultures although some other forms are also evident like not encouraging intermarriages outside the Wari. ‘’The native language is the only language spoken in the vast majority of Wari’s homes and there is little marriages with outsiders”[Con]. The article describes this culture as being strong to an extend that even the British rock star Sting on his three day tour of the area to meet a chief Amazon Indian, found himself nude with several decorations that he could not explain. Infact according to the People’s magazine’s 1988article about the singer visiting Kayapo village, quotes him as saying, “It dint take long for the varnish of civilization to leave us”. This according to the article was confirmed by the photographers who accompanied him. This culture is reported to be more visuals as is seen by the nudity, body paints and colorful ornaments that is portrayed by the preservers. However, the culture was slowly being abandoned going by the evidences of the Amazonian chiefs being seen going to towns with shirts something that was not usual earlier before. This was only to be for a short time as the culture started re-emerging among many people. This was as a result of rapid activism of the Indians living in towns which are described as wearing jeans, sneakers, and shirts and living in town. The article even describes the progressive but steady change by writing that,”Native Amazonians whoonce took pains to hide external signs of indigenous identity behind mass-produced western clothing now proclaim their cultural distinctiveness with headdress, body paint, beads and feathers”[Con]. This form of culture and tendency to portray cultural authenticity however, attractedcontroversy as many people were questioning how the Amazonians could pretend to ignore other foreign cultures especially western culture yet they were using western technology to preserve their culture like the video cassettes, camcorders and even VCR. The other equally perturbed official was the judge who question how Payakan could be able to operate a VCR and still claim to be a real native Indian[Con]. However, Payakan answered him that that was because he was willing to learn. The controversy is how boldly they came out to oppose western culture yet they were using the same technologies. It is for this reason that the writer tries to find out the role of exotic appearances as markers of indigenous authenticity. This group has used so much strategies to garner political support from different bodies including World Bank, public and even different governments. The strategies just as has been pointed up there included strong activism. This activism has taken different forms from the use of the Amazonian visuals, recording government officials asking promises and playing back the tapes whenever they failed on their promises to going to courts bare-chested. Since it is reported in the article that Indian alliance politics is made up of visuals and that images not the ideas of people motivate alliances, it is easy for one to garner influence just by being pro visuals as supported by the report that “Symbols are important in all politics ,but they are central in Native Amazonian activism; in absence of electoral clout or (in most cases)economic influence, the symbolic capital of cultural identity is one of Brazilian Indians most important political resources[Con]. The strategy that has also worked for them is by positioning their culture of ornament to reflect the past phrases of authors like Myers and Redford there by winning the acceptance of the people since they are portrayed as guardians of the forests according to Redford and having a representation of permissible image according to Myer. This won them outsiders support[Con]. In page 324 of the article, the effect of this activism took a perspective of political activism among indigenous peoples growing enormously around the world and hence pushing for the recognition of native involvement in global systems. It is also reported that identity politics –especially in its ecological variants brought in transnational support to native people’s struggle forland and legal right they needed. Finally, it was reported under “new Amazonian mirrors” that Brazilian launched a series of infrastructural development that meant constructing roads into the forests where the Amazonian lived. This was received with a lot of resistance from the Amazonians thereby unleashing violencethat devastated neighboring native communities. This point to a fact that violence was also a strategy used by these people. In general, Indians here were willing to go to any length to protect their cultural authenticity. In fact it is reported that questions arose about the authenticity of Indians living away from the native villages. The Indians generally believed according to the article in purity of their culture free from any other foreign culture as a way of being authentic. These strategies may be useful to them but appears to be risky especially for the Indians who illustrate the reliance on symbolic representations as same Indians who may not conform to these images may be categorized as inauthentic including activists thereby forcing them to act inauthentically. Again there is danger of continuing the culture of nudity as evidenced at a 1991 Regional meeting Rondonia’s forest people when a Suri Indian commanded the paticipants to remove their shirts[Con]. For the violence and tension that is the characteristics of symbolic politics, it is not always the right thing and is unacceptable globally. For positive, impacts, these strategies have made their opinions to be counted in many national and international decisions. In fact, nowadays they are represented in such decisions that may impact them by World Bank and other organizations. It is important from the article how the audience understands how a marginalized group may be consciously and creatively be embracing a stereotype as the same people are the ones who will influence the government as well as the global world treatment of the same. It is evident that the new expression of exotic body image in turn transforms the self-identity of Amazonian tribes since these images say more about Westerners than Indians and tend towards simplistic notions that don’t reflect complex realities that is the nature of most native people’s lives[Con]. This Amazonian culture contrast and compare to the majority of Americans gang related groups who contrary to opposing of technologies adopt rapidly every emerging technology. However, within America itself, there are different gang members who subscribe to certain attires like baggy trousers while others where tights. These attires are complimented by different body piercings and drawings in form of tattoos which either show one belongs to a particular gang. These types of clothes are never abandoned and are passed on to new generation members.Similarly, these members are so many and connected that they have political influence by either swaying votes towards their preferred side or vice versa. It is however, noticeable that these people are modern group of people unlike the traditional Amazonians. They are techno savvy individuals and publicly use and display themwhile Amazonians don’t comfortably use these technologies in public not unless the circumstances force. Work Cited Con: , (Conklin), Con: , (Conklin 320), Con: , (Conklin 323), Con: , (Conklin 321), Con: , (Conklin 332), Read More