Women in the Wichí village of Santa Maria
[photo: Jo Hill, copyright 2006 WR411/6 ARG07DJ-105]
By Chris Wallis
Since around the time of independence in 1812, there has been a steady encroachment on the Wichís’ traditional lands. Once the conquering and killing stopped, they began to be deprived of the land they used for hunting and fishing. If they don’t have the land on which to live, they can’t survive. And there has been a subtler power at work, drawing the Wichí to a way of life far removed from their traditional one. From the beginning of the last century, or even further back, the Indians were taken to the sugar cane fields – in the first place to chop down the forest and to plant and harvest the cane. They went year after year. Many died in epidemics such as the smallpox and the measles but they continued to go back, attracted by the material goods that they acquired through their work. So the market has exercised a strong attraction on the Indian. And the more you want the things from the market, the more you’re thinking in terms of a cash economy and the less you’re thinking in terms of a subsistence economy. At the same time there’s a question of prestige: the more you’re involved in a market economy, the more you have goods acquired in that way which can lend prestige. But all this has to be balanced with the other side of Wichí thought and values. In many respects the Wichí people are very traditionalist. They maintain their language and look down on other Indian groups that have given up speaking their own language. They continue to hunt and fish, to collect honey and, at least, some of the wild forest fruits. They continue some of their traditional handicrafts and their knowledge of the natural environment continues to be most impressive. In many respects they appreciate their traditional way of life and values – sharing, peacableness, family life, etc. – and consider the new ways as a threat and as lacking in essential qualities that make for a good life. But this is the crunch: the new ways, consumer goods (especially foods) increasingly impose themselves and the younger people are unmistakably attracted. School is obviously a powerful tool, in this respect, converting the young people’s minds and aspirations, not necessarily for the best. Having gone through school any young man will probably not have learnt adequately how to fish and hunt, but on the other hand he will have received the very worst of western education, which won’t equip him for a decent job in white society. So, clearly, he has lost out on both fronts. He will only be fit for a very marginalised position in white society.