Waorani Warfare on the Ecuadorian Frontier, 1885–2013

Abstract

R e s u m e n Este trabajo se enfoca en el boom cauchero y su impacto entre los grupos Waorani ubicados en la violenta frontera ecuatoriana. Antes de 1910, los Waorani a veces recolectaban caucho para intercambiar con los comerciantes en la cuenca baja del río Curaray. Pero el comercio pacífico terminó abruptamente. Después de 1930, con el colapso del boom, la mayor parte de los Waorani no optó por el aislamiento voluntario, sino que siguieron a los runa quienes se retiraron a los márgenes occidentales de la selva. Desde allí, los Waorani atacaron a los asentamientos kichwas para robar herramientas de acero y, en ocasiones, a los cautivos. Simultáneamente, incrementó la violencia entre las familias Waorani. Ya para 1958, cuando llegaron los misioneros norteamericanos, muchos Waorani estaban dispuestos a buscar otra salida. Tales acontecimientos sugieren que nuestra visión de la sociedad Waorani y su relación con el mundo exterior necesita una revisión fundamental. A b s t r a c tAnthropologists have often described the Waorani people in eastern Ecuador as fearsome warriors who violently reject contact with outsiders and even with other Waorani. Yet archival and documentary sources paint a very different picture. Even before American missionaries arrived in 1958, Waorani did not generally opt for voluntary isolation. This article highlights the key roles played by external actors-mainly rubber collectors and other commodity extractors, missionaries, and government agents-in altering Waorani responses to the outside world. It describes how changing relations between Waorani groups and outsiders have reshaped patterns of conflict and power in Waorani

Evidence for Landscape Transformation of Ridgetop Forests in Amazonian Ecuador

“…The human management signatures that we registered on the ridgetop forest composition correspond to the Amazonian rubber cycle or boom in the period from 1850 to 1914-essentially the time frame in which the Wao first become known as a people who violently rejected any contact with outsiders. To clear gardens, they used stone tools made in the ancient past, perhaps thousands of years ago, whenever they did not have raided steel tools on hand (Wasserstrom 2016). They favored tree crops like Oenocarpus bataua and Theobroma cacao on ridgetops.…”

“…All Waorani speak a complex, difficult-to-analyze language isolate (Aikhenvald 2012:52, Map 1.7B; Peeke 1973): Wao Tededo. It has no living sister languages and pertains to no known family of languages (Wasserstrom 2016; Figure 1). Culturally and historically, little is known of the Waorani before the great Amazonian rubber boom, but it is clear that, at least from the late nineteenth century through the mid-1960s, they sought to avoid contact with the outside world.…”

Maldición de la abundancia,pueblos aislados y economía extractiva en Perú y Ecuador

“…Según Cabodevilla (2007: 17), los 100 Taromenani vivían en una zona abandonada cerca del río Curaray y la frontera peruana que no les disputaba nadie. Al contrario, los Waorani prefirieron agruparse a lo largo del camino petrolero construido en 1972, la llamada vía Auca (Wasserstrom, 2016). Igual que en Perú, este camino ofrecía acceso a los madereros y colonos agrícolas que querían explotar la reserva étnica waorani.…”

“ <i>Yo fuí vendida</i>”: Reconsidering Peonage and Genocide in Western Amazonia

“…22 Population movements after 1930 are documented in AGN, Libros de Cuentas, 1938;also Samaniego & Toro (1939). See Jiménez de la Espada (1998Espada ( [1927Espada ( -1928 High, 2015, andWasserstrom, 2016). Even after caucheros departed, Rival argues (2002: p. 38), "the Huaorani, fierce isolationists, strictly confined themselves to the hinterlands" avoiding everyone else.…”

“…Waorani bands collected and traded with white caucheros into the 1910s, when they were attacked by rubber workers eager to occupy their homelands (Wasserstrom, 2016). Later, these (mostly runa) workers abandoned the lower Curaray and Napo rivers, leaving Waorani without a ready source of tools and other supplies.…”