Visual artist Joseph Michael listens as indigenous leaders and activists from the Amazonian region discuss their connections with the natural world. The video features Ninawá Inu Huni Kui, President of the Federation of Huni Kui People, Benki Piyãko Ashaninka, Ashaninka Leader and President of Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute, and Sônia Guajajara, Indigenous Activist and Environmentalist.
This video is in Portuguese and has been translated into English.
Questions for discussion
- Each speaker tells of their own personal connection with the environment. Which connection speaks to you?
- Chief Ninawá thinks that the relationship between people and trees can be difficult for people to understand. What do you think he means?
- Do you think this is a Brazilian perspective or is it something that happens in Aotearoa New Zealand too?
Transcript
Ninawá Inu Huni Kui
President of the Federation of Huni Kui People
There are two ways of conceptualising the relationship of indigenous peoples with nature. The first thing is how we can talk. Tell our experiences lived within our territories with nature in general. We talk about the experiences, the teachings of our elders and our ancestors. Another thing is to really practise the relationship with nature. These two things are very different for us. In fact the forest is feminine. It receives the feminine name in general, not just the trees. Why is “she” considered feminine? Because “she” reproduces. It is the forest that reproduces food, reproduces other trees, reproduces oxygen. Those who produce represent feminine energy.
Benki Piyãko Ashaninka
Ashaninka Leader, President of Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute
(When scaling the Samaúma) I felt as if I was so little and so light, regardless of how I made my way back down I felt like I was hugged by her. Whenever I touched her I felt my spirit being taken by this lightness and nothing could faze me. I didn’t feel death, I didn’t feel fear, I didn’t feel any sensation. I just felt like I was floating over the universe.
Sônia Guajajara
Indigenous Activist and Environmentalist
Because there is no way to maintain one’s body and its spirit without living trees – so the tree is very sacred for us. Sacred to ensure life. From the tree we extract medicine, the air we breathe and all this resistance. When we talk about our territories, we’re talking about the water, the trees, the animals. Everything within it.
Benki Piyãko Ashaninka
Water, to us, is the source of birth. When there is water, there is life. Where there is no water we see life ceasing to exist. We have the forest as our mother, the Earth as our mother, the water as our spirit, because it’s from “her” that life is generated. It is from that energy that we survive.
Ninawá Inu Huni Kui
In the tradition of my people, we receive the name of trees, the name of medicines, the name of animals and all are considered brothers. Why do we consider ourselves as brothers? Because everyone has life, has spirit, has history, has love, healing, pain, joy. From the smallest insect to the largest animal, from the small plant to the largest tree. My grandfather always said that a tree cries when you hurt it. She bleeds when you hurt her. This relationship can be difficult for people to understand, to have the understanding that our people have.
