Enawene Nawe

The Enawenê Nawe are a small tribe in the Amazon region ( Mato Grosso, Brazil), living from fishing and gathering. They were contacted in 1974 by Vicente Cañas and still live very isolated. Today, they number about 500 members and live in large communal houses ( malocas ). They are famous mainly for its fishing technique. For this purpose they build large dams in the rivers and spend several months in camps in the forest, where they catch and burn incense, carrying them with the help of canoes in their villages fish. They also feed on cassava, maize and forest fruits. Every year there is a big Honey Festival ( keteoko ). It is unusual that the Enawenê Nawe not hunt and eat meat.

Problems

For several decades penetrate repeatedly rubber tappers, diamonds speculators, ranchers and more recently, the soybean growers in the country of Enawenê Nawe. The André Maggi Group, the largest company in the world has soy, Built in 1997 without authorization a road on their land. She was subsequently closed by a federal prosecutor. The Enawenê Nawe fight to ensure that their land will not be destroyed. Another big problem that people are now facing, is to build up to 80 dams that were planned by the government of the state of Mato Grosso. These are to be built in the land of Enawenê Nawe. Since they do not eat meat and fish is their main food source, they will now see their livelihood with the construction of the dams at risk.