Posts Tagged ‘Amazon’

1
Feb

Culture may trigger evolution of human features, study finds

   Posted by: admin    in Native identity, Uncategorized

Custom holds that in the Amazonian Xavante tribe, the more successful the man, the more children he is allowed to have.

As Charles Choi reports on MSNBC’s science section, a new study shows how that cultural practice has led to a rapid evolution of certain human features within the tribe.

The findings are part of a Federal University of the Rio Grande do Sul study examining how culture can affect the more rapid evolution of human features. The study included an examination of several thousand members of six South American tribes.

    Their research found that one group, the Xavante, had significantly diverged from the others in terms of their morphology or shape, possessing larger heads, taller and narrower faces and broader noses. These characteristics evolved in the approximately 1,500 years after they split from a sister group called the Kayapo, a rate that was about 3.8-times faster than comparable rates of change seen in the other tribes.

    The major changes the investigators saw apparently occurred independently of the effects of climate or geography on the Xavante. Instead, cultural factors appear responsible. For instance, in the Xavante village of Sao Domingo, a quarter of the population was made up of sons of a single chief, Apoena, who had five wives. The tribe’s sexual practices allow successful men in that group to father many offspring, which in turn means that any traits of theirs can quickly dominate their population.

Jenna Cederberg

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12
Apr

‘Avatar’ director James Cameron backs Amazon tribes in fight against Brazil’s Belo Monte dam

   Posted by: admin    in environment, Indigenous people


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James Cameron took a lot of heat (see previous post, here) for the way his blockbuster 3-D film “Avatar” seemed something of a rip-off of indigenous culture.

Now the Hollywood director has traveled to the Amazon on behalf of indigenous people who are fighting Brazilian government’s huge Belo Monte dam project — a cause, he says, that’s inspiring work on an “Avatar” sequel. He says he’s planning to go back this week with actress Sigourney Weaver and at least one other member of Avatar’s cast, the New York Times reports here.

The Times says of the project:

    It would be the third largest in the world, and environmentalists say it would flood hundreds of square miles of the Amazon and dry up a 60-mile stretch of the Xingu River, devastating the indigenous communities that live along it. For years the project was on the shelf, but the government now plans to hold an April 20 auction to award contracts for its construction.

    Stopping the dam has become a fresh personal crusade for the director, who came here as indigenous leaders from 13 tribes held a special council to discuss their last-ditch options. It was Mr. Cameron’s first visit to the Amazon, he said, even though he based the fictional planet in “Avatar” on Amazon rain forests. Still, he found the real-life similarities to the themes in his movie undeniable. …

    Mr. Cameron, 55, first encountered the cause in February, after being presented with a letter from advocacy organizations and Native American groups saying they wanted Mr. Cameron to highlight “the real Pandoras in the world,” referring to the lush world under assault in his movie.

” We have to try to stop this dam,” says Cameron, who’s writing to Brazil’s president, seeking a meeting and urging him to stop the dam. “Their whole way of life, their society as they know it, depends on it.”

Gwen Florio

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