Changes Brought to the Huaorani - Book Review Sample

Introduction

The Huaorani are a nature-conscious community who believe in the land's ultimate sustainability; the land was handed to them by their ancestors, and they must preserve it for their future generations. The environmental conservation culture was taken intimately among the Huaorani, something that is not common in the globalized world today. In his book, Joe Kane, He takes us through the slow and gradual death of the Ecuadorian rainforest caused by the invasion of unsustainable resource extraction. The Ecuadorian rainforest was inhabited by the Huaorani people and had guarded it for generations. Joe uses strong characters and wild terrains to paint a Huaorani picture as they face cultural and environmental destruction from an American oil company. According to information from the classic nonfictional novel, the invasion by foreigners in the Ecuadorian rainforest caused the change in the Huaorani culture and environment, accompanied by several incidences of conflict.

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Diverse Ecosystem

The book is written in the first person, a captivating strategy where the reader gets the feel of a narrative being told directly from the source. The book is a narration of a journey, as the author traverses the once diverse ecosystem that has, with time, been changed to a highly polluted environment with nothing much to admire. Joe is a skilled writer, who besides his knowledge about nature, has a sense of humor, and is creative in painting an imaginary picture in the readers' minds. Besides, his story demonstrates in-depth knowledge on the matter, conscious of foreign cultures, and respect for other people's ways of life. The fact that Joe left his environmental Job to explore the situation in the Ecuadorian rainforest, it demonstrates affection and subscription to the idea of ecological citizenship.

Kane's capacity as an employee of an environmental organization, the rainforest action network, contributes much to his literature on the ecological and cultural degradation of the Huaorani. Kane describes the other environmental organizations as materialistic, who focused on the money and deals from the oil drilling company. Failing to meet the Huaorani elders proves his point as these organizations did not complete the natives of the land to inquire what their grievances were. Ironically, they claim to speak for the Huaorani even when they have not met them.

The authors' choice of words is descriptive and forms an excellent basis for understanding the invaders concerning the natives of the rainforest. Kane uses the word cowode to describe the oil drilling company and the rest of the invaders. According to the Huaorani, the initial meaning of "cowode," was a human eating community, (cannibals). Specifically, this term was used to address man-eating communities living in the rainforest. However, when the oil drillers invaded their rainforest, the word cowode was used to describe the outsiders against the Huaorani tribesmen. This choice of word displays the Huaorani regards people who were not concerned about conserving the environment. It shows that they disrespected and hated the outsiders, just like they hated the cannibals in the forest. This negative perspective towards outsiders is due to their environmentally destructive actions.

Irony

The irony that once Amazon's bravest community would later become a group of beggars would not have crossed anyone's mind before the North Americans invaded the Ecuadorian forest. Before the arrival of the company, the Huaorani believed in the woods for ultimate provisions. They took intensive care of the forest because it was a provider to them, so by taking care of the land, it rewarded them back with more food enough for them and their future children. As the oil drilling company came, there was opposition from the Huaorani. The idea of constructing new roads and drilling oil wells did not resonate well among the Huaorani and caused conflict between them and the company. Thus, they elected representatives Amo and Enqueri to guard their ways of life form infringement by the outsiders.

As Joe narrates, the outsiders reveal their cowode nature through their active extractive activities in the Ecuadorian rainforest. The discovery of oil in the area was the most impactful activity for the Ecuadorian natives. After intensive oil drilling, the Huaorani land was left bare, and all sources of food and clean water for the Huaorani were destroyed. Oil spillages contaminated the water sources and deprived the community of clean water. Hunger was not the only problem the Huaorani faced but diseases too (Kane 205). The contaminated water sources brought diseases to the once healthy Huaorani people. With no food to eat and no clean water source, the Huaorani could not afford money for health care. The company, therefore, funded its health care and became a food donor to the Huaorani while the Huaorani became beggars depending on what the company offered.

Symbolic Colors

Kane uses the symbolic color of black to describe the deteriorating condition of the land. In a text, he quotes, "One day the river turned black...fish were floating in it...We became very sick. We had problems with our skin and vomiting. We were sick for a month. We could not go anywhere for help. We thought we were going to die" (Kane, 58). Black represents rottenness or profound doom about to be felt. This situation shows the height of environmental pollution caused by the company on the land. The company did not only destroy their food, but their future generation's source of food was at stake too. The detrimental effects of the toxic chemicals were felt across the entire food web of the Ecuadorian forest. The organisms at the top of the food chain were affected similarly to those at the bottom of the food chain.

The culture of the Huaorani was at stake as the civilized people of North America settled in their land. The once hunters and dependents of the forest for provisions could not engage in such anymore as the hunting grounds had been turned to oil wells. The rivers which earlier provided them with fish had been turned black by the massive oil spills. After the destruction of their land, the brave people of the Ecuadorian forest had been reduced to beggars and short lives before the company. They were easy to manipulate at this stage since they were dependent on the outsiders for daily provisions and social services. Due to this sudden change, some rebellious Huaorani leaders were assassinated while others become corrupt. This situation changed the Huaorani mindset towards outsiders; from their encounter with the oil drilling company, they had the mentality that outsiders either come for their land or come to interfere with their culture.

Joe identifies missionaries as another significant contributor to imposed change to the Huaorani culture and ways of life and a source of conflict. With the claim of educating the people on better ways to live, missionaries could penetrate the Huaorani residences and spread their messages. Kane portrays the missionaries as egocentric maniacs who believed that their ways of life were right while those of the Huaorani were wrong. For instance, Rachael saint, one of the missionaries sent to the Huaorani people, perceived their culture as backwardness and needed redemption. She was disgusted by their way of dressing, which she describes as being naked. Besides, according to Rachel, it was stupid to be feeding off hunting, and she notes that she saved the culture and not as anthropologists claim that she destroyed it.

The missionaries were able to change the Huaorani culture through the development of missionary schools and churches. These institutions were significant to the destruction of the Huaorani language, religion, and culture. Kane notes how several Huaorani went through the primary education system and became members of the company as laborers in the oil wells. As much as thy fought it, the natives were forced to shift to a modern, civilized way of living.

Conspicuous Lesson

One conspicuous lesson the Kane portrays is the shift towards development as opposed to conservation. The education taught in missionary school appears to emphasize abandoning the conservative nature of the Huaorani, and in its place, they were introduced to uphold development. This shift of cultural practices would later cause overconsumption of the natural environment's resources and destruction to develop their region. This led to one thing destruction of their natural livelihoods so that they now had to rely on food aid from the missionaries and the company. The author portrays the deception as a deliberate action by the missionaries to gain ultimate control over the Huaorani.

As many would expect, a little resistance would be experienced from a few of the Huaorani population. Having received knowledge from the missionaries, they had the literacy to upgrade their opposition from just fighting with spears and manual combat. Literacy gave the Huaorani the knowledge that written messages resonated better with the invaders of their land, so they began writing messages to the missionaries and company leaders. However, the company would not be evicted from the forest, not by literacy nor spears. The oil executives responded by the assassination of one of the elders, and through the help of the missionaries, they bribed another into submission.

Conclusion

In conclusion, upon the interaction of two cultures, a traditional and a traditional one, change and conflict are unavoidable. Joe Kane captures the real situation that ensued from the arrival of the oil drillers into the Ecuadorian tropical rainforest when it became desolate and without its resources. Kane describes the atrocities meted to the Huaorani as they try to defend their natural habitat and food source. The Huaorani had an intimate relationship with their environment, which stood embedded in their cultural beliefs that nature is a provider. The destruction of the forest remains portrayed in the story as an inhumane character which the Huaorani equates to the cannibalism behavior of some forest dwelling people. In a collective term for the missionaries, the oil drilling company, and the environmentalist, the Huaorani term them as cowode, which initially meant cannibals. The term demonstrates how cruel the Huaorani regarded the invaders of their land.

Work Cited

Kane, Joe. Savages. Vintage, 2012.