The People

Contents
Amazon Indians
Caboclos
Goldminers &
Prospectors
City Dwellers
Sertanistas
The Incas
Rubber Barons
The Brazilians

People: Introduction

The People section will contain information about the different people and cultures living in Amazônia. It will contain a short background on the people, photos, and stories - focusing on what it is like to live as part of the culture. The aim is to give students some insight into different cultures of the area and how they came to be where they are.

Although the information here focuses on Amazon cultures, it might be used as a stimulus to get students to look at different cultures with New Zealand (perhaps as a class activity). For example, school students might be able to make comparisons between the native Indian cultures and Maori culture - particularly in regard to the changes brought about through contact with European culture (highlighted by the fact that some remote Indian tribes are still being contacted for the first time).

(Under construction)

The use of stories to tell these tales will be important. Not only are stories a more interesting way of conveying information, but we can also tell the story so that it focuses on a child of similar age in the different culture - hopefully making it easier for students to better relate to the information. The story will tell about what daily life is like, their house, family, pets, travel, education, and expectations for the future. Also include details about interesting aspects of their life (initiation for young Indians, dangers of the jungle or river, pollution, disease, the cycle of annual flooding which forces some people to spend half the year living on a house-raft or a house on stilts sharing quarters with their farm animals, and with nowhere to play except on series of connected rafts).

Ask what would it be like to live in these places with these sorts of lifestyles? How would they feel - invite students to use their own imagination. A class project might be to write a small story of their own, or to draw a picture of their Amazon home. Compare the stories of people that they have read about with their own expectations living in NZ.Perhaps we can link to these people in audioconferences or by e­mail.

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