The Last Forest
Davi Kopenawa in a scene from the documentary "The Last Forest". Photo: Disclosure.

Dthe 19th to the 21st, the Sesc Pompeii hold a round of debates on the situation of indigenous peoples in Brazil with the participation of photographer Sebastião Salgado, indigenous leaders, activists and experts. As part of the exhibition schedule Amazon, the meetings are open to the public, free of charge, and will also be broadcast live on the YouTube channel (here).

The opening of the debate cycle takes place at the Sesc Pompeia theater, on the 19th, at 20 pm, where Sebastião Salgado, Davi and Dário Kopenawa talk about the situation of the indigenous people in the face of the invasion of mining and the devastation of the Amazon rainforest in these 30 years of the demarcation of Yanomami land. On Wednesday (20), Biraci Brasil, Francisco Pyiako and Wewito talk about the indigenous situation in Acre and the conflicts generated by the construction of roads that cross the region. The meeting takes place in the Living Area at 20:XNUMX. To end the program, Sebastião Salgado, Beto Marubo, Sydney Possuelo and Tiago Moreira talk about the situation of isolated indigenous populations and recent contact with other communities, at 18 pm, on Thursday (21), also in the Sesc Pompeia Living Area. The three events are free and only the first one requires advance ticket collection, which must be done at the box office one hour in advance.

about the guests

Biraci Brazil is chief and spiritual leader of the Yawanawa people.

Beto Marubo is an indigenous member of the Marubo ethnic group and a member of the organization Univaja – Union of Indigenous Peoples of Vale do Javari.

David Kopenawa is a Yanomami writer, shaman and political leader. He is currently president of the Hutukara Associação Yanomami, an indigenous organization for mutual aid and ethnodevelopment.

Dario Kopenawa is a Yanomami political leader, vice president of the Hutukara Yanomami Association, an indigenous organization for mutual aid and ethnodevelopment.

Francisco Pyakko he is leader of the Ashaninka people, coordinator of Opirj, former advisor to the Presidency of Funai and former Secretary of State of Acre.

Mark Wesley is an anthropologist, coordinator of the Rio Negro program at ISA (Instituto Socioambiental). He has worked with the Yanomami for over 20 years.

sydney possuelo is an indigenist, social activist and ethnographer, considered the greatest authority on isolated indigenous peoples in Brazil.

Tiago Moreira is an anthropologist, development analyst and socio-environmental research. He is part of the ISA (Socio-environmental Institute) team.

View of the exhibition at Sesc Pompeia, in São Paulo. Photo: Everton Ballardin/Courtesy Sesc
View of the exhibition at Sesc Pompeia, in São Paulo. Photo: Everton Ballardin/Courtesy Sesc

Indigenous April

The activity is part of Abril Indígena at Sesc-SP. Held since 2019, it was conceived with the objective of valuing and disseminating the cultural diversity of these peoples in Brazil, especially through activities that create spaces of protagonism for indigenous people - from both villages, communities and indigenous lands and urban contexts. According to Tatiana Amaral, assistant to the Management of Social Studies and Programs at Sesc, “this networked action aims to contribute to the deconstruction of the stereotyped idea of ​​the wild and isolated indigenous, revealing the actuality and local dimension of their existences, resistances, demands, knowledge and do”, he explains.

On the 30th of April, on the Sesc virtual platform, the series Amazon, Forest Archeology directed and edited by Tatiana Toffoli, produced by Elástica Filmes and directed by sescTV. Check out more about each chapter in the series:

Chapter 1 - The Land of the Peoples

Monte Castelo is a river sambaqui, an artificial island, which was built and occupied at least 6 years ago. Located in the Guaporé River basin, in Rondônia, this site was first excavated by archaeologist Eurico Miller in the 1980s. Thirty years later, it was relocated by a team of archaeologists and excavations were resumed, starting a new stage. of surprising discoveries.

Chapter 2 – Shells and Bones. 

4 years ago the climate of the region changed and new layers of shells and earth were added to the site. The team finds many remains of a cemetery dating to this time. Adornments and a deer antler are found next to human bones. Archaeologists accompanied the Tupari to the old village of Laranjal, where they lived and from which they had to leave because of the creation of the Guaporé Biological Reserve in 1983.

Chapter 3 – Tobacco and Beer. 

The southwest of the Amazon is a region of great natural diversity and perhaps for this reason it was also an important center of plant domestication. The traces of this process of domestication and cultivation of plants are found in archaeological sites in the region. When the Tupari opened the Palhau village, which is located on an archaeological site, the manioc of the ancients, used to make chicha, sprouted in the soil. Many species appear spontaneously in the field. Corn, for example, has been cultivated for 6 years ago, it is still planted by the Tupari today in a demonstration that the past and the present are deeply connected in the region.

Chapter 4 – Bacabal Cemetery.

In this episode, new burials are found. The chemical composition of the shells that form the Monte Castelo sambaqui helped to preserve bones and seeds. Through these vestiges it is possible to know what the ancients ate and drank. Human bones and teeth, soil samples, ceramics and stone objects help us to tell the history of occupation of this region.

 


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