tajana_diary_1

4th June 2007 Acre The first area that I visited in the Northern Region was Acre. In Acre there are many social subgroups. The most interesting aspect was when I met different families of indigenous origin. The groups that I met include: indigenous groups of the Panoan language family, including Kashinawa, Jaminawa and Xanenawa. There are also three groups of other language families, Madiha (Kulina) of the Arawan family as well as Yine (Manchineri) and Ashaninka (Kampa) of the Arawakan family. These groups are very similar to each other so I decided it would be the best just to visit the bigger tribal groups-Kashinawa and Jaminawa. One of the tribe members pulled me aside and explained to me the do's and don'ts while on the property of the tribe. I was lucky that the leaders of the tribes could speak English and was easy to understand but I guess that they are custom to constant visitors to the tribe. One of the most important things while I was on the property of Kashinawa was to never look at elderly in the eye, as this is a sign of disrespect. Furthemore I was also asked to address members by their tribal name for example the male moieties are inubakebu and duabakebu; the sisters of inubakebu are inanibakebu and the sisters of duabakebu are banubakebu. Not only was this confusing but it was also hard to pronounce however the members of the tribe were really grateful that I tried.

//Next stop is a visit to the Jaminawa//