Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Totobiegosode, they were denied entry to Campo Loro by a crowd of hos-
tile Guidaigosode. Some say the critics were physically attacked. Instead,
they sent a supposedly secret cassette with questions for the Totobiegos-
ode, who then sent tape-recorded responses back. One of the Guidaigos-
ode leaders summed up the situation to a journalist at the time:
These people only make problems for us. They want to film us and compare our way
of life with that of our ancestors. When we say something, they twist the meaning
of our words. We believe that they are exploiting us. They themselves should go to
the forest and live there, like our ancestors lived. They should take off their shoes and
their clothes and walk around naked, just like the Ayoreo did before. We want to be
integrated into society and live this new life that we have now, and we do not want
anybody to act against our purpose. We are tired of being the object of discussion for
those scientists. 7
In the aftermath of the contact, there was no formal resolution of such
tensions. The government dictatorship took no serious action against
the New Tribes Mission, which it had long supported. The Totobiegos-
ode remained subordinated in Campo Loro, until Jochade and Yoteuoi
initiated their land claim in 1993. The indigenistas all became involved
in various NGOs. Mennonite efforts at mediation failed, although Wil-
mar Stahl and his brother Uwe did produce a decidedly surrealist video,
complete with staged reenactments of contact by the actual participants
several months after the traumatic event. Its unintentionally ironic title:
“Reconciliation.”
My fieldwork began after many believed this story of the Totobiegos-
ode had ended. But it was soon impossible to ignore how the events of
2004 depended on and demanded the reinterpretation of earlier contacts.
Making sense of the Areguede'urasade and their subordination meant
reopening old wounds and resignifying the past for everyone involved.
And it also brought us all face to face with the images of Ayoreo human-
ity historically cocreated on evangelical missions. Because it was obvious
that conflicts about contact were always debates about the meaning and
value of Ayoreo life, this interpretive labor was distinctly political. There
was no middle ground. Witnessing meant taking a side.
When I arrived, I thought nothing could be clearer than which side
I was on. It was perhaps fitting that Totobiegosode voices themselves
unsettled any easy narrative of victimization, ethnocide, or redemption.
If I was perplexed by the stark disconnect between an imagined process
of culture death and actual Totobiegosode lives, I was even less prepared
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