Bolivia’s Ayoreo Indians, Devoured by the City
Life in the back alleys of the Degüi Ayoreo community, outside Santa Cruz. Credit: Miguel Ángel Souza/IPS
- No one knows exactly when they will show up, but when they do, it’s impossible not to notice them. In one of the busiest street markets in this bustling city in eastern Bolivia, a handful of members of the Ayoreo indigenous community periodically take over a portion of the sidewalk.
From that base of operations, Ayoreo women and children roam around, selling crafts or panhandling. “Buy my necklace, pretty blonde girl,” says an elderly Ayoreo woman, in broken Spanish, while a barefoot girl comes up saying “give me something.”
In Santa Cruz, a city of nearly three million people, the Ayoreo Indians have become an example of how urban sprawl can devour a culture, making it invisible and stigmatising and endangering it, said anthropologist Luca Citarella.
The Italian-born researcher stated in a study published this year that “in their process of urbanisation, the Ayoreo have become identified and stigmatised as street beggars, sex workers and slum dwellers.”
No comments:
Post a Comment