Chamacoco
 Konzehet Faustino (ebytoso) Pto. Esperanza (1990) | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1,800 (2007)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Paraguay Brazil(Mato Grosso do Sul) | |
| Languages | |
| Chamacoco[1] | |
| Religion | |
| traditional tribal religion, Christianity |
TheChamacoco people(Ishír) are anindigenous people of Paraguay.[2]Some also live in Brazil.[1]
The Chamacoco have two major divisions, the Ebytoso, who lived along theParaguay River,and the Tomáraho, who traditionally lived in the forests. The Ebytoso converted to Christianity, while the Tomáraho have lived in marginal areas in order to preserve their traditional world views and lifeways. In the 1980s the Instituto Nacional del Indigena (INDI) resettled the Tomáraho in a community called Puerto Esperanza with the Ebytoso.[3]
Name
[edit]The Chamacoco are also known as the Ishiro, Yshiro, Jeywo, Yshyro, Xamicoco, Xamacoco, or Yshyr people. Their autonym is Ishír.[1][2]The termɨshɨr(also spelledIshirorYshyr) properly means 'person', but now is also used with the meaning of 'indigenous' in opposition to the Paraguayan people, who are calledMaro.[4]
Population
[edit]According to the 2002 census the population yshyr in Paraguay that identified themselves as yshyr was 1571 people, mainly located in the district ofFuerte OlimpoinParaguay,being the largest migrant group which is in the districtYgatimí(85 in 2002). According to data from thebrazilianSocial and Environmental Institute (ISA),in 1994, 40 individuals were living in theIndian Reservation of KadiwéuinBrazil.[5]
During the 80's, the yshyr were displaced from their lands and relocated by theNational Indigenous Institute of Paraguay(INDI) confining them to small riparian areas. In 1986 the tomáraho were moved fromSan CarlostoPotrerito,to land belonging to the ybytoso, and later were given land inMaria Elena.
Language
[edit]Yshyr (chamacoco) people speak theyshyr,aZamuco language.[1]The designation "chamacoco" is probably related to "chamóc" or "zamúc," the ethnonym for the group of the Zamuco Family.[2]The language is calledYshyr ahwoso(also spelledɨshɨr ahwoso) by the speakers.[4]
Yshyr language was studied and described by theJesuitsin the eighteenth century, and includes the dialectstomáraho(ortomaraxa),ybytoso(orebitoso) andorio.[6]
In 1930 it was estimated that about 2000 people spoke some variety of language. The speakers of the variantsybytosoandoriowere estimated at 800 in 1970, while fewer than 200 people spoke Tomáraho in that times. The yshyr language is considered endangered by theUNESCOand could disappear in a few generations, under pressure from the culturally dominant languages in the region, like Spanish and guaraní.
The language shows remarkable morphological similarities with Ayoreo.[7][8]Possessed nouns agree in person with the possessor.[9]Chamacoco presents rare para-hypotactical structures, also documented at an early stage of many romance languages.[10]
History
[edit]
Severalysyrgroups lived in theGran Chacoin the nineteenth century, both inside the territory, and settled on the banks of theParaguay River.Theybytosos(orebitosos) have lived for centuries along the Paraguay River, thetomárahos,lived inside theGran Chacoand until the 1970s were believed to be hostile.[11]
During theChaco War(1932–35), theyshyrfought alongsideParaguayansoldiers against theBolivians,but when the war ended, they lost their territories and had to negotiate ethnic survival with the Paraguayan settlers.[3]
The remainingtomárahowere living in debt slavery in the remoteSan Carloslogging camp—and were dying from disease, neglect, and starvation. Whereas theebytosohad abandoned their rituals as a result of pressure from evangelical missionaries belonging to theNew Tribes Mission,thetomárahostill practiced the boys initiation ceremony and had retained a detailed knowledge ofmythandshamanism.[12]
“Now our territory is that of the company”,atomárahoman said, “we live there but it isn’t ours; it does not belong to us and has become an enemy place that is killing us off. Before we were brave and strong, but cohabitation withParaguayanshas tamed us”The Tomáraho worked in the logging camps of the tannin company Carlos Casado and barely survived, ill and malnourished.[3]
Their first contact with theebytosowas in 1981, whenBruno BarrásandGuillermo Mallero,Ishir fromFuerte Olimpo,walked toSan Carlosto carry out the first National Indigenous Census. WhenEscobarvisited thetomárahoin 1985 they numbered only 87 people.[12]
These groups are now on the verge of disappearing due to the poverty resulting from the transformation of their habitat, degradation of natural resources, and the pressure out of the expansion of economic activity. Young people move to the cities ofParaguayandBrazil,abandoning their beliefs and often denying their origin to avoid being victims of discrimination.
In 2009, only threeybytosocommunities had legal status and own land, thetomárahocommunity and has legal status and allocated land without legal property (DGEEC,2004) with a total of 25,828 hectares. The largest populations are inPuerto DianaandPuerto Esperanza,the smallest inPuerto Caballo.[13]
Economy
[edit]Traditionally, the Chamacoco werehunter-gatherers.Currently, they farm and raise animals, such as sheep, goats, pigs, cows, horses, and poultry. They work as ranch hands, day laborers, and domestic servants. They create crafts for sale such as baskets, wood carvings, and other creations.[1]
Yshyr dissident groups, known as "yacareceros" are engaged inalligatorpoaching, a prohibited activity, to survive. "contingents of fifteen to twenty men leave in canoes up the river, and interns by the marshlands ofrío Negro.They hunt for a month, sleeping in their boats and exposed to all dangers:Brazilianrangers, most of them ex-convicts, use to shoot to kill before asking".[14]
Mythology
[edit]While stories told byybytosodiffer from that fromTomárahoin many respects, the "Big Myth" yshyr can be summarized as follows:
On the occasion of traveling through the jungle, a group of yshyr women met theahnapzöro(oranapsoro), powerful and terrible gods, strange-looking, that had no factions in their faces. Each of them had different unique characters, covered with feathers, hair, or strange colors. The ahnapsoro lived then with yshyr, and taught them to hunt, use tools, and initiated them in their ritual ceremonies.[15]
After a while the coexistence of men and gods became difficult, reaching a crisis with the death of some young people in the harsh initiation ceremonies. ThenEshönewörta(orAshnuwerta), a leading ahnapzoro, showed the yshyr the vulnerability of the ahnapzoro, so they could kill them by beating them at the ankle, as that there they had there throat.
In a short time all the ahnapzoro had been exterminated. only two survived the slaughter:Eshönewörtaand the fearsomeNemur,who escaped. When Nemur felt the human drawing up on him, they were already in the place calledKarcha Baluthe scooped up a snail from the soil or pulled it from his body's thick plumage (depending on the versions) and with an extravagant gesture produced a raging river that sprouted out of its shell.
The man and the ahnapzoro, separated by the river known today as theParaguay river,"exchange words" for the last time. "You can run, but your destiny is to remain forever alone",pronounces Syr, standing on the riverbank."Your people are numerous",replies Nemur from the opposite bank,"but they will be forever obliged to follow the words. If they fail, sickness, hunger, and enemies will decimate then until the last Kytymaraha (name of the clan of Syr) is extinguished".
There is another mythical institution that promotes the balanced use of natural resources: the figure of theMaster of the Animals.Every animal has its master itsbalut,spokesperson,who simultaneously facilitates hunting and severely sanctions its excess.[15]
Notes
[edit]- ^abcdef"Chamacoco."Ethnologue.Retrieved 10 Dec 2011.
- ^abc"Orientation - Chamacoco."Countries and Their Cultures.Retrieved 10 Dec 2011.
- ^abcMendoza, Marcela."The Aesthetics and Performance of the Ishir of Paraguay."A Contre Corriente.Vol. 5, Number 1. Feb 2007: 310–413. Retrieved 11 Dec 2011.
- ^abCiucci, Luca 2013.Chamacoco: breve profilo antropologico e linguistico.Archived2013-12-03 at theWayback MachineQuaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistica della Scuola Normale Superiore n.s. 12
- ^Atlas pueblos indigenas
- ^Glosario de lenguas indígenas sudamericanas, Edgardo Civallero, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba[permanent dead link]
- ^Ciucci, Luca 2009.Elementi di morfologia verbale del chamacoco.Quaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistican.s. 8
- ^Ciucci, Luca 2013.Inflectional morphology in the Zamucoan languages.Pisa: Scuola Normale Superiore. Ph.D. Thesis.
- ^Ciucci, Luca 2010.La flessione possessiva del chamacocoQuaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistican.s. 9,2
- ^Bertinetto, Pier Marco & Luca Ciucci 2012.Parataxis, Hypotaxis and Para-Hypotaxis in the Zamucoan Languages.Linguistic Discovery10.1. 89-111.
- ^Chase Sardi, Miguel (1971).La Situación Actual de los Indígenas del ParaguaySuplemento Antropológico, Vol. 6, Nos. 1–2. Universidad Católica, Asuncion, 1971.
- ^abRenshaw, Jonathan (2007).Article University of Pittsburgh Press
- ^Atlas de las Comunidades Indígenas en el Paraguay(2004) DGEEC - Dirección General de Estadística, Encuestas y Censo de Paraguay
- ^Martín Caparrós"La Selva Esmeralda"First magazine year 4 Nr. 44, May 1990
- ^abEscobar, Ticio (2007).The Curse of Nemur: In Search of the Art, Myth, and Ritual of the Ishir.University of Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, PA
Further reading
[edit]- Escobar, Ticio.The Curse of Nemur: In Search of Art, Myth, and Ritual of the Ishir.Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007.ISBN978-0-8229-5937-3.
External links
[edit]- Chamacoco artwork[permanent dead link],National Museum of the American Indian
- Biblioteca Virtual de ParaguayParaguay Virtual Library
- Centro de Artes Visuales Museo del BarroMud Museum, Visual Arts Center (Paraguay)
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