My Global Learning Experience
LIFE IN IT'S PURE STATE
I have always been curious about learning about other cultures that are different from my own. When I took courses like Global Diversity, Caribbean Biodiversity, Plant Ecology, and Myth and Mysticism, they all sparked my interest to study abroad. I first learned about the program when my soon-to-be study abroad professor was lecturing about Shamanism. I was intrigued and it related to my minor, which encouraged me to sign up. I was given the opportunity to spend four weeks in the Ecuadorian Amazon learning about indigenous knowledge of, and relationships to, the environment.
I learned how to conduct research in Cultural Anthropology, as well as, learn a little bit of the Kichwa language which is a spoken language in South America that is considered critically endangered. I lived amongst and worked directly with Kichwa and Waorani communities while being housed in the Andes and Amazon Field School. I gained the experience to interact with these individuals and learn their worldview. During the duration of my visit, I was able to take part in many traditional Kichwa customs, such as participating in Guayusa ceremony, doing a cleanse with a shaman, and a clay-collecting ritual.
In addition, I stayed in a Scientific Research Center at Yasuni National Park. Yasuni is one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world that is designated to protect indigenous peoples and wildlife from environmental and cultural exploitation. This is the area where I interacted with the Waorani people where they took us on excursions such as boat rides and hikes. With them, we explored the diverse animals and plants that they coexist with. One of the reasons this area has so much diversity is due to how the local indigenous groups inhabiting the area will leave seeds where those plants lacked, moving and shifting the wildlife. Diversity is important for these groups of people and can be seen linguistically, culturally, and through their recognition of non-binary identities.
Until recently, the Waorani people maintained a hunter-gatherer lifestyle when missionaries and oil producers began taking advantage of their land and exploiting their way of life. Since then, the Waorani have relinquished their nomadic ways and settled down into smaller communities. Two tribes, the Tagaeri and Taromenane, have chosen to live in isolation from the outside world to preserve aspects of their culture and live in the most traditional way possible resisting and fighting against further infringements on their rights. They are some of the only isolated peoples in the world today by fleeing further into the forest to escape civilization and maintain no contact with the outside world. I gained an understanding of how they perceive human-to-nature relationship through songs and stories. It heightened my global awareness that these groups of people view nature as an extended family with the same origins and how they have shared ancestry with us. Through this thinking, they have maintained to preserve the environment. However, threats of colonization, deforestation, hunting and resource extraction such as the oil reserve and rubber are still impacting them today.
The Amazon had a profound impact on me on how we view the natural world. The Napo Runa, the humans that inhabit the Napo River, believe that nature can think. Which was astonishing and fascinating for me to believe considering how it was radically different from my own. At first, it was strange to me because it was difficult to understand it because it challenged the very foundations of how our societies think to call into question our central assumptions about what it means to be human and distinct from all other life forms. In western beliefs, there has been a long-standing tendency by humans to view nature and society as two separate entities. This dualism has often led to the maltreatment of non-human beings by humans. We tend to view all other aspects of nature as resources for human gratification. Tearing things down to our benefit. Whereas, Amazonians interact with the many creatures that inhabit their region not using them as resources.
CHAKRAS FOR MEDICINAL PLANTS
I visited many chakras during my time in the Amazon, a Kichwa word for garden. This one in particular only grew medicinal plants. A woman was breaking off the leaves and smelling them. She explained how their aromas were evidence of their power. She further explained the names and several uses of the plants and encouraged us to sample their aromas, tastes, and textures. She stressed that for the treatments to be effective, the right kinds of plants must be used. Some require an extreme diet in order for them to work. Usually, these plants are harvested the same way to treat illness. For the exception of some plants that it is better to dry the leaves so it is more effective. She used Kichwa words like asnak or plants that are aromatic and ambi plants that are medicinal or poisonous to describe their use. Many of their medicinals come from the plants they have in their region and are grown in close proximity to their homes in these chakras. They see plants has invaluable and full of life and power. Plants are powerful they can generate new leaves and branches when they are cut, provide fruit and nuts for others to eat, and provide beauty with the flowers they produce. It is believed in Amazonian thinking, that in order to possess these human desire we must seek it out through plants. If we want to smell good we seek the fragrance that they produce to apply it on ourselves likewise if we want to be healthy and grow strong we seek plants that display those characteristics.
MIDWIFERY
Before going to Ecuador, I was required to read The Life and Times of Rucuyaya Alonso. Although he speaks on behalf of the Napo Runa, his life story is mainly on the male perspective. During my time in Ecuador, I meet with three different women cooperatives and I wanted and was able to gain a feminine perspective on their culture. I will start off by speaking about my time with the community of Amupakin with the women’s cooperative of midwifery. Amupakin is a very small indigenous Kichwa community. We were greeted by a group of women midwives who showed us the process of childbirth and the postpartum period. In a traditional Kichwa setup, there is a fireplace in the center of the room and bed in the corner, and two different alters on the floor over plantain leaves with many clippings of plant branches and vegetables. On the other alter, it had wooden instruments, bowls, and animal parts like deer hooves and giant armadillo teeth. The ceremony began with a pregnant women and midwife entering the room. They demonstrated how to give the required supervision, care, and advice to women during pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum period. Each item on the alters represented a certain power that can assure a healthy pregnancy and promote a healthy and successful life for the child. One midwife said, “These are good ingredients for a good life” to the newly mother. The most important plants were manioc, chota, cocoa, plantain, and wayusa. Each item on the floor represented something that the child needs in order to have a good life. It is used so that the midwife can teach the mother how to pass the information to their child. This is a more traditional way of doing it. The labor position is different the mother and is standing up right while grabbing on to a rope just above her head. She places were hands in the loop and she lets herself hang while dropping her knees. This is the position we’re the child can come out the best. The midwives make a concoction made out of many plants. Where they all drink to expel negative energy. These women help with 30 to 40 children a year and do about 10 to 15 of those follow a postpartum. In kichwa culture, midwives become godparents because they are seen as important guides for the community’s children. That is the reason why midwives have hundreds of godchildren. Through colonization, many people don’t follow all of the Kichwa traditions anymore. But some value this setup that is more cultural-specific but others don’t want the whole ritual because of its cost. The government does not recognize this association so it does receive money because it is not seen as a real medical practice since they don’t have the credentials. In my perspective, western culture is so focused on defining things and saying this is that and not acknowledging other ways of doing.
CLAY HARVESTING RITUAL
The purpose of the clay harvesting ceremony is to ask permission from the clay-owner to collect the clay to make pottery. It is often done in the form of a song. The women go into the creek and ask for the clay owner not to be so greedy and stingy and to let them have some. If they don’t ask for permission the clay will blow up or break. So they start to gather the clay and mash it up until its soft so they can pick out the rocks and sticks to leave it with the clay owner. After they collected a sufficient amount they put it in leaf baskets that they make on site. I was told that clay harvesting is a gendered space. Typically women are the ones to harvest clay because the clay owner is a male spirit so they can seduce him. She would say, “Can I please have some of your beautiful clay?”. Also in Napo Runa culture, they believe that women are inherently better at pottery than men are. I was fortunate enough to attend one of these ceremonies. They had people participate in collecting the clay. I wanted to participate so I asked and they let me. As I was digging for clay in the water, I was able to get a bundle. It was much harder than it appeared. The women were laughing because I was picking bad clay. No matter how hard I tried the clay was never good enough. The translator told me that they were laughing because that’s why men don’t do this. She said, “Men do not care about aesthetic as much as women do.”. This was an eye-opening experience for me. In western cultures, we don't ask nature for permission we just take it for our own gratification but Kichwa people are aware that we have to ask permission to take what doesn't belong to us.
GUAYUSA DRINKING AND DREAM INTERPRETING CEREMONY
Guayusa Ceremonies are traditionally done every day at 4 in the morning. I was fortunate enough to be invited to one. It took place outside and we sat around a fireplace while the Guayusa leaves brewed in the pot. We all got a gourd of guayusa as we spoke about our dreams. During the Guayusa tea-drinking ceremonies, women usually sing and their ability to sing is a sign of status, strength, and wisdom in their culture. Women are the first people that men tell their dreams too and interpret their dreams and give advice on what to expect. The word of the women is seen as valuable. The lady and the man that hosted to ceremony interpreted our dreams to us.
HUK RATUKAMA
See you later
During my stay in Ecuador, I learned the value of communication and knowing more languages. I struggled my way through plenty of conversations, and I sometimes felt like I was in situations where I couldn’t do or act or say anything the way I really wanted to. I felt like I had taken for granted my effective communication skills that I rely on so heavily in English, and all of a sudden, I was stripped of them by speaking a different language. For this reason, I relied heavily on the patience and understanding of the Ecuadorian people. I may have made a lot of linguistic mistakes, but I never once felt like the people I met were judging me or unwilling to help me better express myself. Regardless of some of the troubles, I had with language barriers and cultural misunderstandings, my overall trip was beyond incredible. I admire immensely on the amount of knowledge I gained through this experience and how I applied this knowledge to connect the dots with the courses that I have taken here at FIU. Visiting the Amazon was definitely a life-changing experience and became my first step into exploring more parts of the world and all the cultures it has to offer.