The Shuar’s population is around 110,000 people (1).
These people are divided among 668 communities in southern Ecuador and Peru (1).
They live in the Andes Mountains and in the western part of the Amazon Rain
Forest basin. The Shuar are classified as tribal and seminomadic (1).
Colonization and religious influences are what caused this once nomadic people
to become semi settled in a centros
manner (1). It allows for the people to easily interact the Ecadoran, Peruvian,
and regional government (1). Although the Shuar do interact with the
governments, the power is decentralized within their communities (1). The
religious and political authority is held by the shaman while in times of war a
chief is nominated and holds power (1).
Some
of the Shuar communities have been more impacted by globalization than others.
This lead to classifying the communities as remote, for less impacted, or
integrated, for more impacted (2). However, these communities still have many
similarities in their daily lives. Women in both types of communities still
participate in the growing of crops such as manioc, plantain, and sugar cane
(1,2). The men still hunt all of the large game, such as monkey and tapir, and
fish (1,2). Both women and men still hunt small game, such as small birds and
armadillo, and gather fruit and larvae (1,2). The children in both of these communities
are considered to have reached adulthood at the age of thirteen, but may still
attend school (2).
Although
the basics of the society in the remote and integrated communities is the same,
there are some major differences (2). The size of these communities differ
greatly. In one remote Shuar village, there are 17 households with an adult
population of 24 men and 20 women (2). While in one integrated community, there
are 38 households with an adult population of 59 men and 51 women (2). In
integrated communities it is common for people to be employed regularly as
teachers or sporadically by selling crops and as hired hands (2). While in
remote communities there are very few government jobs and it is uncommon to
have a wage job (2). These employment differences are mostly due to the lack of
roads in remote villages (2). It makes it very difficult to obtain manufactured
goods and to trade goods (2). The last major differences in remote and
integrated communities is that only integrated communities have electricity,
propane, and running water (2).
In
addition to these communities, the Shuar have communities that have high
schools in them (2). Technically they could be classified as integrated
communities, but the high school changes aspects of the village (2). Students
who attend the high school can come from surrounding integrated and remote
villages (2). These students may travel daily or board with acquaintances and
relatives in the local community (2). The high schools greatly increase the
population of the local community while school is in session because of this
(2). The students who attend the high school can be up to 24 years old (2). It
is common to see students both married and unmarried (2).
References
1) Danver, Steven
2015 Native Peoples of the
World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues. London: Taylor and
Francis.
2) Pillsworth, Elizabeth
2008 Mate Preferences Among the Shuar of
Ecuador: Trait Rankings and Peer Evaluations. Evolution and Human Behavior 29(2008):256
267.
