Impact of Gold Mining on Kayapo Culture

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Yute is a Kayapo Indian chief from central Brazil. Today he's travelled from his own village on the edge of the Amazon forest to this mining town on a special mission. Yute is here to visit his bank manager. Gold has been found on Kayapo land and Yute is today checking a village account which gets some two million dollars a year from Brazilian miners. Tudo bem? Tudo bem. Now, people, let's see what our account is. How much our community accounts for. Let's see. So, you have a very good movement here with us. Yes. Are you going to withdraw any money? No. We'll get there on Friday. They oppose the mining of gold. Their leader, Chief Ropini, is on the radio. To Chief Ropini, Kayapo land is untouchable. Some 2,000 Kayapo Indians live scattered in Brazil's Amazon rainforest. Their aggressive attitude towards other Indians and Brazilian settlers makes them the most feared tribe of the region. Half the Kayapo live on traditional land in the Gorotiri Reserve, where gold was recently found. In return for some of the revenue, they allow Brazilian miners onto their land. 500 miles away, on the Shingu River in the village of Kapote, live Chief Ropni's group of Kayapo, who oppose this policy. 340 of these Kayapo live completely isolated in the traditional circular village of Kapote. Our story starts with this group and the debate they're having about the gold miners. But today the village is almost empty. A great ceremonial hunt... lasting a month, is taking place away in the forest, and Chief Ropney is taking his family downriver to join the hunters. For traditional leaders like Ropney, this is one of the most important events of the year. Terry Turner, professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, has known the tribe for 25 years. I've known Ropini since I first began working with the people of Kaput. All his life he's had to fight off Brazilian incursions into his people's land. Some 50 Brazilians have died in the skirmishes he's fought over the years. He's also an intelligent political leader and diplomat. It was he who persuaded the Brazilian authorities to grant his people the legal title to the land bordering this stretch of the Shingu River. Ropini flaunts his martial exploits by using a motorboat captured from the Shingu River. I have coffee, sugar, and wine. I sell my wine, and I have a lot of money. I have a lot of money. I have a lot of money. The Kayapo relationship to their land is central to their culture. It is supremely expressed in ceremonial hunting expeditions which Rokni and his people undertake several times a year and which lasts for several weeks. A great hunting camp has been constructed deep in the forest away from the river. It's a temporary village of some 250 Kayapo from Kapote, which will move every two days when the game is exhausted. The way this hunting camp is organized shows why the Kayapo are such a potent political force. Both the men and women are divided into different age groups, which work collectively in highly organized teams. It's a system based on seniority, with the older men, the heads of households who do the hunting, at the top. It's now early morning, and the senior men like Ropini, in their important hunting role, leave as a group for the shoot. Next in the pecking order are the young bachelor youths. They also work together as a group, clearing the trail to the next day's campsite, a distance of one or two miles. As a group, they too must follow the directions of the senior huntsman above them. The younger boys also work as a team, cutting wooden racks to hold the large tortoises brought in by the hunters. Once again, they're subservient to the older youths and the men above them. Adult women working in teams build the houses of each new camp. They cut firewood, cook the food, and transport most of the family possessions between camps. Younger unmarried girls work together carrying water and tending the children. The whole system functions smoothly and automatically as a support network for the senior men and their prestigious role as hunters Kramare a senior Kayapo though not a chief has been designated leader of the hunt Kramare is looking for animal tracks away from the main camp For the Kayapo, the forest is not merely a source of game animals or edible fruits. It is a world infinitely rich in meanings, where every plant or creature may have a specific use in magic or medicine, ritual or bodily decoration. Unlike many Amazonian peoples, the Kayapo don't believe in a divine being, nor do they use drugs or alcohol. Even their magic must have practical purposes. Krumare has noted that the bees are fat, so logically if he rubs them on his hunting dog it will bring back fat game. Back at the hunting camp, it's early evening and returning hunters announce from the forest they have taken important game. Land tortoises are the main prey on the ceremonial hunt. They're the only species of game capable of being stored alive for the month or so that people are in the forest. Then they will be killed at a great feast back in the village, organized to christen a young child with a beautiful name. Pékin, the father of the child being named, acts as the focus for all the intensive hunting activity. The tortoises, as they are brought in, are tied in racks, still alive, and displayed in front of his shelter. Every Kayapo has common names, but only some receive beautiful names. For the child to receive beautiful status, the whole village must participate in the A months-long ceremony and hunt. The beauty of the name given by the ceremony is the essence of the Kayapo idea of wealth. This wealth becomes a permanent part of a person's identity. It can't be bought or sold like our money or commodities. Beauty in this sense is one of the highest values of Kayapo society. I don't know if I should take a break. Yes, but you have to take a break. You have to eat. You have to eat to get full. I'm not going to eat bread. I'm going to eat bread. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. In the center of the hunting camp is the men's hut, and as in the village, the men's hut is the center of Kayapo public activity. Each men's age group has its separate sitting place within it. And it's here that the system of respect can be most clearly seen, with the bachelors listening deferentially as senior men strut and orate before them. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this. Fueled by the controversy about gold, Krumari begins an oration to the assembled bachelors on the meaning of the naming ceremony. I'm going to kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you. I'm going to kill you, kill you, kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. Next morning the village is on the move again to a new campsite a mile away deeper in the forest. Ropini sings to scare away wild animals from the caravan. Oh May you believe to me no way, but no time may not be able to me. Yeah, may be I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. It took just one hour to abandon the old camp. It takes just one hour for the women working as a team to construct another. It's now three weeks on. In the near deserted home village of Kapote, an ancient warrior, Mayuri, signals with his lone dance the hunting party is ready to return. Fires are lit to prepare food and during the night Pecan has come up river to supervise the festivities. After five weeks away from the village, the exhausted hunters are back, now laden with 13 precious racks of tortoises from the forest. High-pitched wailing or keening from the women greets the young bachelors as they perform their last duty of hauling the 200-pound racks of tortoises into the village circle. Keening is for women what oratory is for men. A stylized form of speech performed by senior women on important occasions like the return of the hunting party. Crow Mare, as leader of the expedition, ends the hunt by delivering a special chant called Ben. Ben resembles a more stylized form of the senior men's oratory and is normally reserved for chiefs alone. The hunting party divides. The tortoises are taken to Peikan's house where he and his family will start the great task of preparing them for the rest of the village. Meanwhile the older men, the hunters, retire to the men's house in the center of the village. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just doing what I'm doing. I'm not doing anything else. I'm just doing what I'm doing. I'm not doing anything else. I'm just doing what I'm doing. I'm not doing anything else. I'm not doing anything else. I don't know what to do. You don't know what to do? No. You don't know what to do? No. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. The layout of the traditional Kayapo village of Kapote is similar to that of the hunting camp. The men's house, called ng'a, the word for center, is in the center of the plaza where the ceremonies are held, with the family households of the women and their husbands around the circumference. The political order of relations among the age groups and the performance of public ceremony focus in the men's house. A boy at the age of eight is removed from his family house around the edge of the circle and goes to live in the men's house which functions like a boarding school. Here youths and bachelors learn to behave as a group in relation to the more senior men's and women's age sets. In practice this means the married men who reside in the households on the edge of the village circle and who use the men's house as a kind of club. When a youth gets a girl he is courting pregnant, he moves up from the bachelor's age group to the group of senior men and also moves out of the men's house to take up residence with his wife in her parents'house on the edge of the circle. Baka'e is Krumare's son-in-law. He now lives in Krumare's family house. He explains what happened when he first courted Kokoja, one of Krumare's daughters some years ago. I was born in Krumare. I was born in Krumare. I was born in Krumare. I was born in Krumare. I was born in Krumare. I was born in Krumare. I have a lot of friends here. I have a lot of friends here. I have a lot of friends here. I have a lot of friends here. I tell men on a new day you make a new animal for a good mother what I call it a mother my boy and I do not come cabin then baka a moved in with kuka jar into her father's house kumaris house contains 28 members of his near kin his extended family kumaris own immediate family that of his wife's sister and the families of his two daughters and sons in law here baka a has to obey his new parents in Gold is on Ropini's mind when he begins a fierce oration to the boys and bachelors in the men's house on the true meaning of the naming ceremony which is about to begin. I am a man. I am a man. I am a man. I am a man. I am a man. I am a man. I am a man. I'm going to go back. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. The men dance out of the men's house in the first of the climactic rites of the ceremony. These will culminate in the great tortoise feast and the giving of beautiful names to Pekan's child a few days later. The separation of the age groups is now overcome in the continuous line of dancers. The structure of ceremony thus draws together the groups divided in the men's house structure. This unity creates for the Kayapo the beauty that is passed on to the child by the ceremony. The dancing will go on for five days. Hearing that we must depart for the gold-rich village of Gorotiri, Ropini, because he cannot write, asked to send a message on our tape recorder, criticizing the Gorotiri leaders. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. Another group of 700 Kayapo Indians live in the village of Gorotiri in the Gorotiri Reservoir. From the gold mine they control ten miles away, Gorotiri has an income of two million dollars a year. At its airstrip, the two village chiefs fly in from Brasilia, the nation's capital. In the first plane is the senior chief, Kanyong. Toto-i, the other chief, flies in in a second plane. There are two other family members in the party who are equally important. Tapiet, a nephew of one of the chiefs, and Kubini, son of the Schooled in Brazilian ways, they've enabled Guretiri to deal with the gold mine and the banking system. In effect, these two have become the first Kayapo technocrats. Chief Canionk has been in Brasilia trying to see the president of Brazil. Gorotiri has a serious problem. There are rumors that the government want to build a hydroelectric scheme that could flood huge areas of Kayapo land. Pine Crow, Chief Totoi's wife, keening in the customary Kayapo greeting over Kuben-I, her returning son. The wailing expresses the sadness she felt while he was away. The new brick houses of Gorotiri built along their Brazilian-style street, together with a men's house made of corrugated iron at the head of the street, exemplify the changes brought by gold and timber wealth. When Toto E, the second chief, arrives, a meeting is called for the whole village in the men's house at the end of the street. Gold has brought dramatic changes here. Youths and bachelors no longer sleep in the men's house but live with their parents instead. Word has got around that Chief Ropini has sent a message criticizing the Gorotiri people. The whole village, including the women, crowd into the men's house to listen to Ropini's words. The government is angry. The government is angry. The government is angry. The government is angry. The government is angry. The government is angry. The government is angry. The government is angry. Chief Kanyank and his people are angry. Chief Kanyank and his people are angry. Chief Kanyank and his people are angry. Chief Kanyank and his people are angry. Chief Kanyank and his people are angry. Chief Kanyank and his people are angry. Chief Kanyank and his people are angry. I don't want to be a slave, I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. bring to their own society is raging among the Gorotire and other Kayapo. This degree of self-awareness about their own culture is in itself a great change in Kayapo history. Central to the debate is what to do about the huge gold mine at Maria Bonita on Kayapo land ten miles from Gorotire. The Kayapô were presented with a fait accompli when in 1982 gold was found and 3,000 tough and determined Brazilians invaded. Maria Bonita has become a Wild West frontier post hacked from the jungle. The only way in is by light planes which land on the main street of the town. The Kayapo have managed to keep control of the mine by force of arms, laying down three rules for the miners. No guns, no women, and no alcohol. And today, only four Kayapo warriors run the site. This is Irio, their leader, son-in-law of one of the Gorotiri chiefs. Irio makes up the third. ...of the three Kayapo technocrats who run the gold business. Before a miner is paid by the treasury, he presents himself to Irio, and a percentage of the gold he scratched from the soil is taken by the Kayapo. How much? 1,900. 1,900? This is the Brazilian government treasury of the mine. Initially, they offered the Kayapó a tiny percentage of the gold from the mine, but when production quickly rose to 40 million dollars a year, the Kayapó decided to take a 5% share by force. Some 200 Kayapó warriors seized control of the Maria Bonita mine in April 1985. They did it by occupying the airstrip, the only means of access to the site. Decorated in traditional battle paint and feathers, and armed with war clubs, rifles, and bows and arrows, they cowed the 3,000 miners on the site by this calculated exhibition of savagery. The miners offered no resistance. Now that they are in firm control, the Kayapó successfully police the mine at its shops and inspect the baggage of all departing miners for smuggled gold, with only four warriors armed with war clubs. All of this represents a conscious use by the Kayapó of their reputation among the local Brazilians as savage killers. The success of the Kayapo in seizing and running the mines is a remarkable achievement for an Amazonian Indian people. It is, however, a success which could raise impossible problems ahead. How will the newfound wealth affect Kayapo society and values? And how will they control the miners who've gained a foothold on their territory? As always, the Kayapos'main concern is for their land, and the answer they have come up with is straightforward and simple, if perhaps optimistic. I am Ghoja, I am the father of the Kharadja. I am the father of the Kharadja. Iryo returns from the mine to his village of Gorotiri. Erio is back because a beautiful naming ceremony is taking place in Gurutiri. The ceremony is called the Coco, and again as in Kapote, the whole village must participate. Also getting ready for the ceremony are the two other young technocrats, Tappi and Kato. Pierre, who runs the banking system, nephew of one of the chiefs, and Kubany, who runs the government post here, son of the other chief. My wife is ready to paint for me. I'm going to take off my clothes, and she's going to paint for me. I always wear the clothes I'm wearing when I walk around the city. But when I come back to my village, I take off my clothes. And I'm like this, as I was before. For a long time, since 1975, I left... I was a young man, 12 years old, to get to know the city. how white people should be served, how white people should be managed, how white people should be mathed. But no one will forget about culture. Because the Kayapó Indians can leave as children, they can go outside and come back to the village, and they can use culture. With the Indians. The government promised to give 10% to this community, Goroteira, but it didn't fulfill what it promised to the communities, 10%. While they put 10%, they put 0,1% for the community. So it would be a mistake, poor thing, they don't know. He doesn't know the accounts. We're going to close the farm in two years. The farm won't work in our area anymore. No, no. The owner who sent us to leave, we were the ones who left. We were the owners of the land. The Kayapó people don't know about cachaça, they don't dance, they don't drink alcohol. But today, the white people themselves promised the youths to drink alcohol. The Koko naming ceremony will go on day and night in the village for nearly three months. As in Kapote, before a beautiful name can be given to a young child, the whole community must take part in the ritual. The ceremony consists of a series of masked dancers involving two anteaters, a male and a female. The male circles the female, courting her, and guarding against enemies such as monkeys. The monkeys alternatively escort and harass the anteaters. who in turn are watched over by the mysterious Cocoa Masks. During the three month long ceremony, three children from Gurutiri will gain beautiful names. Every morning and every evening during the ritual, the children are protected and shelter under the Cocoa Masks. The Cocoa masks have the faces of catfish, but also the presence of human ghosts. They are worn by the ceremonial friends or godkin of the child being named. Their role is to guard the child during important ritual transitions like the receiving of a ceremonial gift. Each morning and each evening the Koko masks are slowly escorted back to their resting places in the houses of the children who will be named. The parents of the name-receiving children don't take part in the celebration. Instead, they must work to feed the dancers twice a day for up to three months, a heavy obligation in a community of 700 people. Dancers sit in the men's house divided into their age groups of bachelors, young married men and seniors, calling impatiently for food. Branka and Maiku are the parents of one of the children receiving a beautiful name. I was a child. I was 13 years old when I was born. I was born in the village of Tinkajik. I was born in the village of Tinkajik. I was born in the village of Tinkajik. I was born in the village of Tinkajik. I was born in the village of Tinkajik. I was born in the village of Tinkajik. I was born in the village of Tinkajik. My daughter is a classic. Gorotiri land is about the size of an average English county. Four vigilante posts used by teams of armed Kayapo warriors have been set up to frighten off invading settlers. The Kayapo employ these Brazilian workers, paid by the gold, to run the posts. What's your name? Serra. We came to see if there was an invasion in our reserve. So we could get some information. One day, Antônio came here. He even talked to Captain Canyon, who said that there were people coming in from behind. But he never came back. He said that when it was necessary, he would need one or two to follow, but he never spoke. Another example of gold money finding its way into the community. Dorotiri village watching television. But this is no ordinary viewing. They're watching material shot on their own video camera. This is their own recording of a war dance performed by a neighboring Kayapo village. The chiefs perceive video as a way of showing the war. of storing Kayapo culture. Major Kayapo negotiations with Brazilians are also recorded. When a group of pilots tried to change their contract for flying planes to the mine, the discussion was played back to them afterwards. I was a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, The acquisition of airplanes and video cameras by the Kayapo is an ingenious use of their gold and timber revenues to protect their own culture. When Tapayet led the war party of 200 Kayapur warriors to invade the mine and get back 5% of the gold, Gorotiri's own camera was there to record this important piece of Kayapur history. With the chiefs controlling the bank accounts, little, if any, real money circulates in Gorotiri. This can produce strange paradoxes. Bebnurah has a gold nugget he wants to sell. I'm a farmer. What do you do? I'm a farmer. You're a farmer? Yes, I'm a farmer. Do you have a farm? Or do you have a farm? No, I don't. I have a farm. The traditional circular village plan has been abandoned at Gorotiri, but the changes appear to go much further than that. The new Brazilian-style houses tend to shelter single families rather than the old-style extended families. Only 35% of the houses at Gorotiri are now open. still contains sons-in-law living with their wives parents as compared with 85% at Kapote. An even more striking change has occurred in the men's house at the head of the street. The young boys and bachelors no longer sleep there as they do at Kapote. Instead they They live with their parents until they are ready to marry and set up their own households. Do these apparently interrelated changes represent a major breakdown of Kayapo society? Or, put differently, has the acquisition of gold and other wealth undermined the traditional order of Kayapo society? The answer of the Gorotiri themselves is no. The beautiful naming ceremonies such as this one, the Kudukang-o, are celebrated if anything more vigorously than ever and the age groups in the men's house continue to organize village activities. The Kudokango is unique in that both men's and women's age groups dance together. This is clear as each group dances in a series of concentric arcs. One major side effect of the gold mine is the pollution stretching 10 miles down river to the village. This doesn't stop the children of Gorotiri from playing in the water, but it has forced the Kayapo to rely more on alternative fishing methods in outlying streams and ponds. One such is the ancient Kayapo method which they call the attack on the fish. In a pond away from the river, bundles of vines are beaten in the water to produce sap, which deprives the water of oxygen. After a time, the fish are forced to the surface. The actual beating is organized by age groups, with the bachelors and seniors working in separate teams. While waiting for the fish, Kapran Poi, one of the fishermen, takes issue with charges that Gorotiri is abandoning its culture. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I'm not a farmer. No, I'm not a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. An even more vivid method of instilling the young bachelors of Goldridge-Gorotire with traditional age group values is the ordeal called the attack on the wasps. This is a dangerous and painful ritual in which youths of the bachelors age group must plunge their fists into a wasp nest in a tree high above the ground. Under the unrelenting gaze of the senior men, the bachelors must demonstrate their discipline and aggressiveness by braving the stings and descending the scaffold before they are overcome by the pain. Talk to the kid, talk to the kid. Rights like this demonstrate the continuing vitality of the age group system of Gorotiri. For a whole week the chiefs have remained silent about their visit to Brasilia, the nation's capital. But rumors of the proposed hydroelectric dam are causing concern in the village. Chief Cagnon calls for all the men to assemble in the men's house. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I'm not going to be a joker. I'm going to be a man. Raiding other tribes, or the Brazilians, was until recently an important way that the Kayapo constructed their own identity. Now I sense that their recent successes in dealing with the Brazilians have had something of the same effect. You can feel their pride in themselves as they dance their traditional war dance. The women with their babies dancing among the men, extending their arms. their arms protectively above them, the fate of the whole society at stake, they danced this as they went out to seize the gold mine of Maria Bonita in 1985. I think they'll be dancing it again if the hydroelectric dams start going up on the Xingu River.

Tudo bem? Tudo bem. Now, people, let's see what our account is.

How much our community accounts for. Let's see. So, you have a very good movement here with us.

Yes. Are you going to withdraw any money? No. We'll get there on Friday. They oppose the mining of gold.

Their leader, Chief Ropini, is on the radio. To Chief Ropini, Kayapo land is untouchable. Some 2,000 Kayapo Indians live scattered in Brazil's Amazon rainforest. Their aggressive attitude towards other Indians and Brazilian settlers makes them the most feared tribe of the region.

Half the Kayapo live on traditional land in the Gorotiri Reserve, where gold was recently found. In return for some of the revenue, they allow Brazilian miners onto their land. 500 miles away, on the Shingu River in the village of Kapote, live Chief Ropni's group of Kayapo, who oppose this policy.

340 of these Kayapo live completely isolated in the traditional circular village of Kapote. Our story starts with this group and the debate they're having about the gold miners. But today the village is almost empty.

A great ceremonial hunt... lasting a month, is taking place away in the forest, and Chief Ropney is taking his family downriver to join the hunters. For traditional leaders like Ropney, this is one of the most important events of the year.

Terry Turner, professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, has known the tribe for 25 years. I've known Ropini since I first began working with the people of Kaput. All his life he's had to fight off Brazilian incursions into his people's land.

Some 50 Brazilians have died in the skirmishes he's fought over the years. He's also an intelligent political leader and diplomat. It was he who persuaded the Brazilian authorities to grant his people the legal title to the land bordering this stretch of the Shingu River.

Ropini flaunts his martial exploits by using a motorboat captured from the Shingu River. I have coffee, sugar, and wine. I sell my wine, and I have a lot of money. I have a lot of money. I have a lot of money.

The Kayapo relationship to their land is central to their culture. It is supremely expressed in ceremonial hunting expeditions which Rokni and his people undertake several times a year and which lasts for several weeks. A great hunting camp has been constructed deep in the forest away from the river.

It's a temporary village of some 250 Kayapo from Kapote, which will move every two days when the game is exhausted. The way this hunting camp is organized shows why the Kayapo are such a potent political force. Both the men and women are divided into different age groups, which work collectively in highly organized teams.

It's a system based on seniority, with the older men, the heads of households who do the hunting, at the top. It's now early morning, and the senior men like Ropini, in their important hunting role, leave as a group for the shoot. Next in the pecking order are the young bachelor youths. They also work together as a group, clearing the trail to the next day's campsite, a distance of one or two miles. As a group, they too must follow the directions of the senior huntsman above them.

The younger boys also work as a team, cutting wooden racks to hold the large tortoises brought in by the hunters. Once again, they're subservient to the older youths and the men above them. Adult women working in teams build the houses of each new camp. They cut firewood, cook the food, and transport most of the family possessions between camps.

Younger unmarried girls work together carrying water and tending the children. The whole system functions smoothly and automatically as a support network for the senior men and their prestigious role as hunters Kramare a senior Kayapo though not a chief has been designated leader of the hunt Kramare is looking for animal tracks away from the main camp For the Kayapo, the forest is not merely a source of game animals or edible fruits. It is a world infinitely rich in meanings, where every plant or creature may have a specific use in magic or medicine, ritual or bodily decoration. Unlike many Amazonian peoples, the Kayapo don't believe in a divine being, nor do they use drugs or alcohol.

Even their magic must have practical purposes. Krumare has noted that the bees are fat, so logically if he rubs them on his hunting dog it will bring back fat game. Back at the hunting camp, it's early evening and returning hunters announce from the forest they have taken important game. Land tortoises are the main prey on the ceremonial hunt. They're the only species of game capable of being stored alive for the month or so that people are in the forest.

Then they will be killed at a great feast back in the village, organized to christen a young child with a beautiful name. Pékin, the father of the child being named, acts as the focus for all the intensive hunting activity. The tortoises, as they are brought in, are tied in racks, still alive, and displayed in front of his shelter.

Every Kayapo has common names, but only some receive beautiful names. For the child to receive beautiful status, the whole village must participate in the A months-long ceremony and hunt. The beauty of the name given by the ceremony is the essence of the Kayapo idea of wealth. This wealth becomes a permanent part of a person's identity. It can't be bought or sold like our money or commodities.

Beauty in this sense is one of the highest values of Kayapo society. I don't know if I should take a break. Yes, but you have to take a break. You have to eat. You have to eat to get full.

I'm not going to eat bread. I'm going to eat bread. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one.

I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one.

I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. I'm going to make one. In the center of the hunting camp is the men's hut, and as in the village, the men's hut is the center of Kayapo public activity. Each men's age group has its separate sitting place within it.

And it's here that the system of respect can be most clearly seen, with the bachelors listening deferentially as senior men strut and orate before them. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this.

I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this. I'm going to eat this.

I'm going to eat this. Fueled by the controversy about gold, Krumari begins an oration to the assembled bachelors on the meaning of the naming ceremony. I'm going to kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you.

I'm going to kill you, kill you, kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you.

I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you.

Next morning the village is on the move again to a new campsite a mile away deeper in the forest. Ropini sings to scare away wild animals from the caravan. Oh May you believe to me no way, but no time may not be able to me.

Yeah, may be I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land.

I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land. I am a man of the land.

I am a man of the land. It took just one hour to abandon the old camp. It takes just one hour for the women working as a team to construct another. It's now three weeks on.

In the near deserted home village of Kapote, an ancient warrior, Mayuri, signals with his lone dance the hunting party is ready to return. Fires are lit to prepare food and during the night Pecan has come up river to supervise the festivities. After five weeks away from the village, the exhausted hunters are back, now laden with 13 precious racks of tortoises from the forest. High-pitched wailing or keening from the women greets the young bachelors as they perform their last duty of hauling the 200-pound racks of tortoises into the village circle.

Keening is for women what oratory is for men. A stylized form of speech performed by senior women on important occasions like the return of the hunting party. Crow Mare, as leader of the expedition, ends the hunt by delivering a special chant called Ben. Ben resembles a more stylized form of the senior men's oratory and is normally reserved for chiefs alone.

The hunting party divides. The tortoises are taken to Peikan's house where he and his family will start the great task of preparing them for the rest of the village. Meanwhile the older men, the hunters, retire to the men's house in the center of the village.

I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just doing what I'm doing. I'm not doing anything else. I'm just doing what I'm doing.

I'm not doing anything else. I'm just doing what I'm doing. I'm not doing anything else.

I'm not doing anything else. I don't know what to do. You don't know what to do? No.

You don't know what to do? No. I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

The layout of the traditional Kayapo village of Kapote is similar to that of the hunting camp. The men's house, called ng'a, the word for center, is in the center of the plaza where the ceremonies are held, with the family households of the women and their husbands around the circumference. The political order of relations among the age groups and the performance of public ceremony focus in the men's house. A boy at the age of eight is removed from his family house around the edge of the circle and goes to live in the men's house which functions like a boarding school. Here youths and bachelors learn to behave as a group in relation to the more senior men's and women's age sets.

In practice this means the married men who reside in the households on the edge of the village circle and who use the men's house as a kind of club. When a youth gets a girl he is courting pregnant, he moves up from the bachelor's age group to the group of senior men and also moves out of the men's house to take up residence with his wife in her parents'house on the edge of the circle. Baka'e is Krumare's son-in-law. He now lives in Krumare's family house.

He explains what happened when he first courted Kokoja, one of Krumare's daughters some years ago. I was born in Krumare. I was born in Krumare.

I was born in Krumare. I was born in Krumare. I was born in Krumare. I was born in Krumare. I have a lot of friends here.

I have a lot of friends here. I have a lot of friends here. I have a lot of friends here.

I tell men on a new day you make a new animal for a good mother what I call it a mother my boy and I do not come cabin then baka a moved in with kuka jar into her father's house kumaris house contains 28 members of his near kin his extended family kumaris own immediate family that of his wife's sister and the families of his two daughters and sons in law here baka a has to obey his new parents in Gold is on Ropini's mind when he begins a fierce oration to the boys and bachelors in the men's house on the true meaning of the naming ceremony which is about to begin. I am a man. I am a man.

I am a man. I am a man. I am a man.

I am a man. I am a man. I'm going to go back. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave.

I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave.

I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave.

I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. I'm going to go back to the old cave. The men dance out of the men's house in the first of the climactic rites of the ceremony.

These will culminate in the great tortoise feast and the giving of beautiful names to Pekan's child a few days later. The separation of the age groups is now overcome in the continuous line of dancers. The structure of ceremony thus draws together the groups divided in the men's house structure. This unity creates for the Kayapo the beauty that is passed on to the child by the ceremony. The dancing will go on for five days.

Hearing that we must depart for the gold-rich village of Gorotiri, Ropini, because he cannot write, asked to send a message on our tape recorder, criticizing the Gorotiri leaders. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing.

I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing.

I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I have been working for a long time.

I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time.

I have been working for a long time. Another group of 700 Kayapo Indians live in the village of Gorotiri in the Gorotiri Reservoir. From the gold mine they control ten miles away, Gorotiri has an income of two million dollars a year.

At its airstrip, the two village chiefs fly in from Brasilia, the nation's capital. In the first plane is the senior chief, Kanyong. Toto-i, the other chief, flies in in a second plane. There are two other family members in the party who are equally important. Tapiet, a nephew of one of the chiefs, and Kubini, son of the Schooled in Brazilian ways, they've enabled Guretiri to deal with the gold mine and the banking system.

In effect, these two have become the first Kayapo technocrats. Chief Canionk has been in Brasilia trying to see the president of Brazil. Gorotiri has a serious problem.

There are rumors that the government want to build a hydroelectric scheme that could flood huge areas of Kayapo land. Pine Crow, Chief Totoi's wife, keening in the customary Kayapo greeting over Kuben-I, her returning son. The wailing expresses the sadness she felt while he was away. The new brick houses of Gorotiri built along their Brazilian-style street, together with a men's house made of corrugated iron at the head of the street, exemplify the changes brought by gold and timber wealth. When Toto E, the second chief, arrives, a meeting is called for the whole village in the men's house at the end of the street.

Gold has brought dramatic changes here. Youths and bachelors no longer sleep in the men's house but live with their parents instead. Word has got around that Chief Ropini has sent a message criticizing the Gorotiri people.

The whole village, including the women, crowd into the men's house to listen to Ropini's words. The government is angry. The government is angry. The government is angry.

The government is angry. The government is angry. The government is angry.

The government is angry. The government is angry. Chief Kanyank and his people are angry.

Chief Kanyank and his people are angry. Chief Kanyank and his people are angry. Chief Kanyank and his people are angry.

I don't want to be a slave, I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave.

I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave.

I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave. I don't want to be a slave.

I don't want to be a slave. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. bring to their own society is raging among the Gorotire and other Kayapo.

This degree of self-awareness about their own culture is in itself a great change in Kayapo history. Central to the debate is what to do about the huge gold mine at Maria Bonita on Kayapo land ten miles from Gorotire. The Kayapô were presented with a fait accompli when in 1982 gold was found and 3,000 tough and determined Brazilians invaded.

Maria Bonita has become a Wild West frontier post hacked from the jungle. The only way in is by light planes which land on the main street of the town. The Kayapo have managed to keep control of the mine by force of arms, laying down three rules for the miners. No guns, no women, and no alcohol. And today, only four Kayapo warriors run the site.

This is Irio, their leader, son-in-law of one of the Gorotiri chiefs. Irio makes up the third. ...of the three Kayapo technocrats who run the gold business.

Before a miner is paid by the treasury, he presents himself to Irio, and a percentage of the gold he scratched from the soil is taken by the Kayapo. How much? 1,900. 1,900?

This is the Brazilian government treasury of the mine. Initially, they offered the Kayapó a tiny percentage of the gold from the mine, but when production quickly rose to 40 million dollars a year, the Kayapó decided to take a 5% share by force. Some 200 Kayapó warriors seized control of the Maria Bonita mine in April 1985. They did it by occupying the airstrip, the only means of access to the site. Decorated in traditional battle paint and feathers, and armed with war clubs, rifles, and bows and arrows, they cowed the 3,000 miners on the site by this calculated exhibition of savagery. The miners offered no resistance.

Now that they are in firm control, the Kayapó successfully police the mine at its shops and inspect the baggage of all departing miners for smuggled gold, with only four warriors armed with war clubs. All of this represents a conscious use by the Kayapó of their reputation among the local Brazilians as savage killers. The success of the Kayapo in seizing and running the mines is a remarkable achievement for an Amazonian Indian people. It is, however, a success which could raise impossible problems ahead. How will the newfound wealth affect Kayapo society and values?

And how will they control the miners who've gained a foothold on their territory? As always, the Kayapos'main concern is for their land, and the answer they have come up with is straightforward and simple, if perhaps optimistic. I am Ghoja, I am the father of the Kharadja. I am the father of the Kharadja. Iryo returns from the mine to his village of Gorotiri.

Erio is back because a beautiful naming ceremony is taking place in Gurutiri. The ceremony is called the Coco, and again as in Kapote, the whole village must participate. Also getting ready for the ceremony are the two other young technocrats, Tappi and Kato.

Pierre, who runs the banking system, nephew of one of the chiefs, and Kubany, who runs the government post here, son of the other chief. My wife is ready to paint for me. I'm going to take off my clothes, and she's going to paint for me.

I always wear the clothes I'm wearing when I walk around the city. But when I come back to my village, I take off my clothes. And I'm like this, as I was before. For a long time, since 1975, I left...

I was a young man, 12 years old, to get to know the city. how white people should be served, how white people should be managed, how white people should be mathed. But no one will forget about culture.

Because the Kayapó Indians can leave as children, they can go outside and come back to the village, and they can use culture. With the Indians. The government promised to give 10% to this community, Goroteira, but it didn't fulfill what it promised to the communities, 10%.

While they put 10%, they put 0,1% for the community. So it would be a mistake, poor thing, they don't know. He doesn't know the accounts. We're going to close the farm in two years. The farm won't work in our area anymore.

No, no. The owner who sent us to leave, we were the ones who left. We were the owners of the land. The Kayapó people don't know about cachaça, they don't dance, they don't drink alcohol.

But today, the white people themselves promised the youths to drink alcohol. The Koko naming ceremony will go on day and night in the village for nearly three months. As in Kapote, before a beautiful name can be given to a young child, the whole community must take part in the ritual. The ceremony consists of a series of masked dancers involving two anteaters, a male and a female.

The male circles the female, courting her, and guarding against enemies such as monkeys. The monkeys alternatively escort and harass the anteaters. who in turn are watched over by the mysterious Cocoa Masks. During the three month long ceremony, three children from Gurutiri will gain beautiful names.

Every morning and every evening during the ritual, the children are protected and shelter under the Cocoa Masks. The Cocoa masks have the faces of catfish, but also the presence of human ghosts. They are worn by the ceremonial friends or godkin of the child being named. Their role is to guard the child during important ritual transitions like the receiving of a ceremonial gift.

Each morning and each evening the Koko masks are slowly escorted back to their resting places in the houses of the children who will be named. The parents of the name-receiving children don't take part in the celebration. Instead, they must work to feed the dancers twice a day for up to three months, a heavy obligation in a community of 700 people.

Dancers sit in the men's house divided into their age groups of bachelors, young married men and seniors, calling impatiently for food. Branka and Maiku are the parents of one of the children receiving a beautiful name. I was a child.

I was 13 years old when I was born. I was born in the village of Tinkajik. I was born in the village of Tinkajik.

I was born in the village of Tinkajik. I was born in the village of Tinkajik. I was born in the village of Tinkajik. I was born in the village of Tinkajik.

I was born in the village of Tinkajik. My daughter is a classic. Gorotiri land is about the size of an average English county. Four vigilante posts used by teams of armed Kayapo warriors have been set up to frighten off invading settlers.

The Kayapo employ these Brazilian workers, paid by the gold, to run the posts. What's your name? Serra. We came to see if there was an invasion in our reserve.

So we could get some information. One day, Antônio came here. He even talked to Captain Canyon, who said that there were people coming in from behind.

But he never came back. He said that when it was necessary, he would need one or two to follow, but he never spoke. Another example of gold money finding its way into the community. Dorotiri village watching television.

But this is no ordinary viewing. They're watching material shot on their own video camera. This is their own recording of a war dance performed by a neighboring Kayapo village.

The chiefs perceive video as a way of showing the war. of storing Kayapo culture. Major Kayapo negotiations with Brazilians are also recorded.

When a group of pilots tried to change their contract for flying planes to the mine, the discussion was played back to them afterwards. I was a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, a man, The acquisition of airplanes and video cameras by the Kayapo is an ingenious use of their gold and timber revenues to protect their own culture. When Tapayet led the war party of 200 Kayapur warriors to invade the mine and get back 5% of the gold, Gorotiri's own camera was there to record this important piece of Kayapur history.

With the chiefs controlling the bank accounts, little, if any, real money circulates in Gorotiri. This can produce strange paradoxes. Bebnurah has a gold nugget he wants to sell. I'm a farmer.

What do you do? I'm a farmer. You're a farmer? Yes, I'm a farmer. Do you have a farm?

Or do you have a farm? No, I don't. I have a farm.

The traditional circular village plan has been abandoned at Gorotiri, but the changes appear to go much further than that. The new Brazilian-style houses tend to shelter single families rather than the old-style extended families. Only 35% of the houses at Gorotiri are now open.

still contains sons-in-law living with their wives parents as compared with 85% at Kapote. An even more striking change has occurred in the men's house at the head of the street. The young boys and bachelors no longer sleep there as they do at Kapote.

Instead they They live with their parents until they are ready to marry and set up their own households. Do these apparently interrelated changes represent a major breakdown of Kayapo society? Or, put differently, has the acquisition of gold and other wealth undermined the traditional order of Kayapo society?

The answer of the Gorotiri themselves is no. The beautiful naming ceremonies such as this one, the Kudukang-o, are celebrated if anything more vigorously than ever and the age groups in the men's house continue to organize village activities. The Kudokango is unique in that both men's and women's age groups dance together.

This is clear as each group dances in a series of concentric arcs. One major side effect of the gold mine is the pollution stretching 10 miles down river to the village. This doesn't stop the children of Gorotiri from playing in the water, but it has forced the Kayapo to rely more on alternative fishing methods in outlying streams and ponds. One such is the ancient Kayapo method which they call the attack on the fish.

In a pond away from the river, bundles of vines are beaten in the water to produce sap, which deprives the water of oxygen. After a time, the fish are forced to the surface. The actual beating is organized by age groups, with the bachelors and seniors working in separate teams.

While waiting for the fish, Kapran Poi, one of the fishermen, takes issue with charges that Gorotiri is abandoning its culture. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time.

I have been working for a long time. I have been working for a long time. I was a young boy.

I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy.

I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy.

I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I was a young boy.

I was a young boy. I was a young boy. I'm not a farmer. No, I'm not a farmer. I'm a farmer.

I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer.

I'm a farmer. An even more vivid method of instilling the young bachelors of Goldridge-Gorotire with traditional age group values is the ordeal called the attack on the wasps. This is a dangerous and painful ritual in which youths of the bachelors age group must plunge their fists into a wasp nest in a tree high above the ground. Under the unrelenting gaze of the senior men, the bachelors must demonstrate their discipline and aggressiveness by braving the stings and descending the scaffold before they are overcome by the pain.

Talk to the kid, talk to the kid. Rights like this demonstrate the continuing vitality of the age group system of Gorotiri. For a whole week the chiefs have remained silent about their visit to Brasilia, the nation's capital.

But rumors of the proposed hydroelectric dam are causing concern in the village. Chief Cagnon calls for all the men to assemble in the men's house. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people.

I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people.

I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people.

I don't want to be a slave to the people. I don't want to be a slave to the people. I'm not going to be a joker. I'm going to be a man.

Raiding other tribes, or the Brazilians, was until recently an important way that the Kayapo constructed their own identity. Now I sense that their recent successes in dealing with the Brazilians have had something of the same effect. You can feel their pride in themselves as they dance their traditional war dance. The women with their babies dancing among the men, extending their arms. their arms protectively above them, the fate of the whole society at stake, they danced this as they went out to seize the gold mine of Maria Bonita in 1985. I think they'll be dancing it again if the hydroelectric dams start going up on the Xingu River.

Transcript for:Impact of Gold Mining on Kayapo Culture

Transcript for:
Impact of Gold Mining on Kayapo Culture