38_Kayapo3

The key figure in mediating the relationship between the Kayapo society of Kretire village and the national society and government of Brazil is undoubtedly chief Rop-ni. Rop-ni is the son of an important Kayapo leader. He was taken as a youth to the headquarters of what has become the great multi-tribal Indian reserve of the Xingu national park. He learned Portuguese and a great deal about the ways of the non-indigenous Brazilians. He also met many foreigners, mostly journalists and anthropologists, and formed a shrewd idea of the value of international publicity as a check against incursions against his people's land, resources, and personal rights. This film, one of many in which he has appeared (almost all made by non-Brazilians), is for him, part of a never-ending campaign to bring the problems and perils of his people to the attention of the world at large. He sees it as a possible basis of leverage, in case a new shift in Brazilian government policy, or private rapacity, again deprives them of their land and livelihood. We see Rop-ni in several typical roles in his complex struggle to obtain the things his people need and want from the non-indigenous Brazilians, while protecting their way of life. So far, Rop-ni has pursued his balancing act of playing off the militants within his own people, the Brazilian administrators and the national and international press and public opinion against one another-with considerable skill and success. He has been a significant factor in leading his people towards a viable modus vivendi with Brazil and the modern world in general.

Indispensable as political leadership from figures like Rop-ni has been, it is perhaps with the likes of Bedjai that the best long-term hopes of the Kayapo for a viable accommodation with Brazilian society lie. We see Bedjai in his machine shop working on an outboard motor. His accommodation to mainstream Brazilian society started when the Kayapo acquired their motor launch. The problem was how to operate and maintain the launch (at that time, the Kayapo had had no experience with any mechanical contrivance more complex than a rifle). Bedjai undertook to go out into the world to learn the requisite skills. He travelled to the main post of the Xingu Park and in five years, he became a qualified motor mechanic and a licensed motor launch operator, as well as learning to read and write, operate as a paramedic and pharmacist, and use a two-way short-wave radio. He successfully obtained enough tools and spare parts from FUNAI (Fundaçao Nacional do Indio―National Indian Foundation) to establish a repair shop in Kretire. He now maintains and runs two motor launches that belong to the village, and an electric generator that powers a short-wave transmitter. He taught his paramedical skills to other young men so that the Kayapo could run their own clinic with medicines supplied by FUNAI. He also learned to read and write Portuguese, and has started a literacy class for the younger men of the village. The Kayapo have become an example of a hopeful future for Indians in Brazil. This film was made as part of the BBC series, Other People's Lives. A study guide for the series is available from the RAI, price £3.50. Catalogue number (16mm): 3RA119 £9.

[See Kayapo-Out of the Forest for full bibliography.]