Isolationist Amazonians, Racism in Sucre, and the U.S. Press

Jovan Maud at Culture Matters recently juxtaposed the lack of media attention to the brutal racism against indigenous peoples in Sucre (posted about here at the GT, among other places) with the media fascination with an “uncontacted” Amazonian group recently photographed from the air.  I want to explore this further.

One thing that struck me was that few media sources directly commented on the fact that these Amazonian people clearly understood that an airplane was a threat to them. Their stance — arrows pointed up, bodies painted to signal they are ready for conflict — is a clear message to us that they understand what “contact” would mean for them, and they don’t want it. To their credit, the people at FUNAI do understand this, and seem to be hope that the attention will bolster their efforts to prevent logging and other incursions into indigenous territory.

Rather than calling this group “uncontacted”, a far better term would be “isolationist”.  This would make clear that it is they who have deliberately chosen to avoid or limit outside contact.  They are not merely “undiscovered” or “uncontacted” by others (read: non-indigenous Brazilians or state officials).  They are actively deciding how they wish to interact (or not) with the world.  How we describe them should reflect that.

While these Amazonians made the news all over the U.S., the blatant racism of recent events in Sucre has been confined to more specialized sections of the Internet, and ignored in the mainstream U.S. press. Certainly Bolivia has never been a major topic in U.S. newspapers (even when it deserved to be), but given the interest in Evo Morales as an indigenous leader, I would expect this kind of conflict to receive greater coverage.

Why the discrepancy in media interest? Is it that isolationist Amazonian indigenous peoples fit into our ideas about exotic, noble savages?  Do they spark our imaginations about people on this planet not yet connected into a global system of money, cell phones, and Coca-cola — people who don’t have to worry about checking their email while on vacation?  Or is that we find the events in Sucre too disturbing — especially in the U.S., where it might remind us of the ugly events suffered during our Civil Rights Movement?

No doubt there are multiple reasons for why, in this case, an Amazonian tribe avoiding the state was of far greater interest to the U.S. press than highland indigenous peoples engaged in political struggle within the context of the state.  But those reasons clearly include the ideas that the U.S. Press (and its readers) harbor about indigenous peoples and the discriminations they face in myriad forms.