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The Culture of the Huaorani of Ecuador Essay

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The Culture of the Huaorani of Ecuador
“In the Eastern part of Ecuador stretches el Oriente, the jungle. Between the Napo and Curaray Rivers are 600,000 hectares of land that is the home of the Huaorani, feared warriors of the Amazon Rainforest. This territory includes Yasuni National Park, one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet. Unfortunate for the Huaorani, it also includes hundreds of kilometers of oil pipes and several oil company stations that are having a devastating effect on this fragile tropical ecosystem” (Cuna, 2007, para. 1). Due to encroachment on their territory by outsiders, there are fewer than 2,000 Huaoranis left today. In this paper, I will provide an overview, as well as analyze and evaluate how the …show more content…

Additionally, some elder warriors are believed to have special powers to transform themselves into the jaguar.
Gender relations of the Huaorani may vary but ensure equal distribution of responsibilities. Generally, the males support the family by means of hunting. They typically hunt using spears or blowguns. The Huaorani men cut small areas of trees so the women can harvest necessary crops for rituals and consumption. The men are the defenders of their land, and will participate in combat if necessary against intruders (Lu, F. E., 2001). While it is very uncommon to find, women can hunt to support their family as well. However, their primary jobs within their groups are to care for the children, plant and harvests crops, as well as maintain their homes. Everyone has their own chores to do within the home, so that the chores are equal (Lu, F. E., 2001).
Within the nanicabo chores are jointly undertaken, and all food and material goods are shared. There is sexual division of labor, on which men take the priority responsibility for hunting while the women take primary responsibility for gardening, gathering from the forest, cooking, and child care; however, among the Huaorani all of these lines are fluid and flexible (Robarchek and Robarchek, 1998, p. 104-6: Yost, 1981, p.691).
The social organization of the Huaorani people denotes an amazing continuous adaptation to their environment. They are highly skilled and have vast experience in

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