Mission
The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project is a cultural anthropology course-based project meant to raise critical consciousness about the rich cultural diversity in our indigenous world. Being totally aware of the limitations of being outsiders, we are a group of multidisciplinary undergraduate students who believe in cross-cultural sensitivity and participatory agency aimed at disseminating information about indigenous realities as accurately as possible.

Vision
The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project’s vision is to create an online cross-cultural space for students, professionals, and youth to learn and exchange cross-culturally sensitive information about contemporary indigenous experiences. From that outsider student’s perspective, we will try to theoretically explore possible collaborative solutions to problems that affect the indigenous populations of our planet. Finally, we hope for the future creation of a space where indigenous youth can share their experiences and their realities with us for real mutual collaboration to take place.

Values
 We value the maximization of benefits to indigenous peoples and other vulnerable populations in the world.
 We value the respect for persons all over the world.
 We value the equal treatment of people, and we are against the exploitation of vulnerable groups around the world.
 We value collaborative cross-cultural learning and critical thinking.

Geographic Location

The Shuar people resides in Ecuador and Peru. They were approximately 45.000 people living in the basin of the rivers Santiago, Morona and Pastaza. They were first established in the Morona Santiago province, but now with 110.000 habitants they are extended all over the Amazonian territory. They occupy the East of the Zamora and Morona Santiago province, and the South of the Pastaza province.

According to the Shuar Pastaza Nacionality Federation, the Shuar people are located in the provinces of: Napo, Pastaza Morona Santiago, Zamora Chinchipe, Sucumbíos, Orellana and in the coast: Esmeraldas, Quinindé and Guayanas (Ecuador). In Peru they are situated in, Cóndor Canqui, Río Santiago, Loreto, Alto Amazonas, Barranca and Morona.



Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Political History and Development.



The beginning. The Shuar are a group of indigenous people of Ecuador and Peru and up in till the 16th century maintained their way of life with the same culture isolation as the rest of South America. The Shuar had a fierce reputation before meeting with the Spaniards. During the time when the Inca Empire ruled, the Shuar were one of the very few tribal groups to have resisted them. To put into numbers, the Inca had a population of 12 million during this time period () while the Shuar now have a population of 110,000 in 1998 (3). Even with today’s population, the Shuar compared to the ancient Inca would have been outnumbered by 109 to 1.

First contact. After the meeting of the Spaniards and the converting by the priests in the 16th century, the Shuar recognized the change of the status quo the foreigners brought with them and began to uses the teachings of the Europeans to protect their land. By converting religions, the Shuar were able to successful negotiate with the Europeans and hold onto their land with some Spanish oversight. While the Shuar did hold onto their land, they had to give mineral rights to the right gold deposits to the Spaniards which were of course mined by the Shuar (2). At one point the Spaniards went too far in taxing the Shuar and had a violent altercation because of it which ceased communication between them up in till the 19th century (3). 

Globalization. In 1964 after about a 100 years of minor communication with missionaries, the Shuar people took a huge step to modernizing their society by reaching out towards the Ecuadorian and global community. They “formed a political Federation to represent their interest to the state, non-governmental organizations, and transnational corporations” also known as Centros (1), this move allowed for the Shuar a voice in their government. Further in 1969, the Shuar, through their Federation, convinced the Ecuadorian government to give them jurisdiction over their land. This means that they would be in charge of duties such as education, civil administration, land-tenure and cattle-production. This authority over there lively hoods would allow for the Shuar people and their culture to survive in an ever changing world.

Post globalization. Despite the Shuar people fighting to maintain their culture heritage, some members of the current generation also feel pride and worth in their Ecuadorian lineage. This resulted in some of the latest generation of the Shuar to have gone on to serve in a governmental captaincy. A new trouble has also arisen that could threaten their land and identity Large pockets of oil have been discovered in their lands. This is a problem since having valuable natural resources has been shown in the past as being the first step to having one’s cultural destroyed due to the greed of outsiders. Now the Shuar along with other native tribes are defending their land from devastation to their ancestral homes the oil companies would cause deforestation and government migration.

Sources
Petersen, Rachael
2012 Indigenous Peoples of the World: The Shuar. Electronic document
https://intercontinentalcry.org/indigenous-peoples/shuar/  June 1st


Indian Cultures by Hands Around the World
2014 Shuar Indians Electronic document.
http://www.indian-cultures.com/cultures/shuar-indians/ June 1st

Memim encyclopedia
            2015, Shuar people, Electric document
http://memim.com/shuar-people.html  June 1st

 
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJune 7, 2015 at 3:41 PM

    Being of Irish descendent, I feel sympathy for and give support for the Shuar people for their determination to preserve their cultural while also being willing to adapt to the changing political environment. I feel that trying to maintain your cultural ties is important for keeping a sense of identity. The Shuar not only preserved their identity but also accepted their Ecuadorian heritage. This to me, really shows how powerful the strength of spirit the Shuar possess. It’s easy for a person to strongly identify with one cultural identity but maintaining multiple identities seems colossus.


    I am a white American of German/Irish descendent. Despite having German/Irish parents, I know next to nothing about either of my ancestor’s homeland or their customs. This sense of unknown origins doesn’t bother me because I found my own identity as a white American college student. I still wonder about how my life would have be different had I grown up with a stronger emphasis on my heritage. The more I read about how the Shuar managed to keep their culture while becoming more involved with their government, the more I feel jealousy of their ability to maintain it. All I know about my own family’s cultural identity is that my father’s family came over in 1903 and Americanized to the point where the only relic of our Irish heritage is my grandma’s Irish potatoes pancake.


    As I review my writings about the Shuar the more I feel that my own world view has widen, if only slightly. Starting with the human agency, which means actions that individuals or groups take to transform their identities, the Shuar used to preserve and allow for their culture to survive to the 21st century. Actions such as working with the Europeans and allowing the missionaries to spread their beliefs in order to learn how to best defend their territory. I was pleased to read about how the ethnocentric Europeans taught the Shuar enough about their ways that the Shuar were able outsmarted them. The Shuar showed me how despite not having the same beliefs or customs as others, they were still about to keep their cultural beliefs around despite attempts by foreign powers to suppress it. This to me, seems to prove that there is no one right culture, that ethnocentrism is just a crutch that people used to try to justify that their way is right and others are wrong.

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