Ikpeng leader documents his tribe's struggle

[nosmokes]

western "civilazation" capitalism and the race for more, more, more. it just spreads joy and light wherever we go. huzzahs! -joe
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original-indian country.com

Ikpeng leader documents his tribe's struggle
Posted: January 22, 2007
by: Jim Adams / Indian Country Today



NEW YORK - Karume Txicao Ikpeng, a leader of the Ikpeng Indians of the Amazon, ranked as one of the stars of the recent Native American Film and Video Festival at the National Museum of the American Indian's George Gustav Heye Center. He presented two impressive films, a charming video/letter from the children of his village in central Brazil and a darker record of the Ikpeng people's travails since their first contact with the outside world in 1964.

But he also plays a central role in the Ikpeng struggle for restitution, which is now entering a crucial phase. Just 28, he is president of the Ikpeng National Association, which is petitioning the Brazilian government for its return to ancestral lands. He is also deeply involved in the range of social services which the tribe receives on the Xingu Indigenous Park. His story encapsulates the Brazilian tribes' brush with extinction and their dramatic recovery.

''When I was a child, my grandfather told me the story of a noisy bird that changed our life forever,'' Karume' said to introduce his gripping documentary, ''My First Contact'' (''Meu primeiro contato''). Filmed with support of the Brazilian foundation Video in the Villages (Video nas Aldeias) and co-produced by that group's Mari Correa, the video gives the tribe's perspective on the fateful day when the famous Villa-Boas brothers flew overhead in a light plane. With some humor, naked elders re-enacted their terrified efforts to drive away the craft with their arrows and their reaction when it dropped an introductory parcel of foodstuffs. ''The bird just pooped,'' they shouted.

The Villa-Boas plane returned the next day, this time somewhat bizarrely dropping a bundle of fashion magazines. It landed in the clearing dominated by the Ikpengs' maloca, the huge thatched communal dwelling. Out step Claudio and Leonardo Villas-Boas, explorers and activists for indigenous rights. What follows was captured in archival footage. A shirtless bear of a man, Claudio Villas-Boas gave the diminutive Ikpeng great hugs and handed them lighted cigarettes. It's not a bad metaphor for the dubious benefits of even the best-intended first contact.
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