Who are the Kayapo?
• live along the upper tributaries of the Xingu River (Pará State) • rain forest and savannah; two seasons (rainy and dry) • sustained contact with outside world starting in the late 1950s • 1993 population @ 4000, living in 14 villages • received formal land reserves (semi-autonomous territory) from Brazil in 1980s and 1990s • 100,000 square kilometres (the size of Austria) • practice slash and burn agriculture as well as hunting and gathering • headmen : achieved status, no formal power • an age-grade society; initiation ceremonies for boys becoming warriors • head-dresses, lip plugs, and dramatic body painting (red and black) • The largest (and wealthiest) of villages is Gorotire • one of the world’s largest gold mines located here • in 1982 Brazilian gold miners invaded Kayapo territory by the thousands • Gorotire managed to gain control of mining concessions Terence Turner (reading packet) first arrived in Gorotire in 1962 (Note, what follows is a fairly detailed summary of the ar
