Reading - Ancestor's Times

Notes from the reading

Not proven but Apurinã people see a connection to geoglyph earthworks
Pirjo has learned knowledge through storytelling with Apurinã elders (myyty)
Discussion on the nature of biocultural hertiage and why places are important, also about ownership of biocultural heritage which is also owned by non-humans?

Relates a story about a guide pointing out a former settlement withgruit trees that his unclehad planted. These provide a sense of place and home
His ancestors' knowledge and actions are visible in the landscape, and describes forests as "largely domesticated"
- Cites this study which was pretty cool
These locations from the 'ancestral forests' are important stopping points for travelling Apurina but are often invisible to non-indigenous visitors
They serve to educate about good behaviour and form memories. Also talk about ancestor spirits

Owner spirits (awitetxi) employ respect and emotions of fear, they can give strength or stamina but also cause disease
People learn to carefully ask permission from the owner spirits to extract resources
Kymyrys are transformative places, secret locations, places of past shamans' spirits that have moced on and remain there. Sites of communication and guidance. When not disturbed they reproduce the life of communities?
Shamans spirits guide in animal forms
They are all living entities in the here and now, acquiring environmental knowledge

THese spirits participate in protection of biocultural heritage
By sharing the locations and stories ofthese places only with themselves, they protect the richness and health of their ecological relations
Besides oral transmission, knowledge is also transferred non-verbally, for example though hearing something from a soundscape or animal movement in a kymyry.
- People don't live or do daily activities in these places, they are just for spiritual purposes
- Their location is hard to describe to outsiders? How do we know where it is?
Secrecy is important for:
- Preventing knowledge from being misinterpreted
- Misuse of knowledge will cause disasters in ecosystems/between humans
- Transmitted only to people spiritually prepared for personal responsibility of interacting in a human/nonhuman relation
The earthworks mentioned earlier are a kind if kymyry and are not merely physical places
Part of the Apurina living biocuultural heritage
Even if we can't prove that they were created by Apurina ancestors, they should be integrated in cultural heritage projects because of their relation to them
Sacred sites should not be documented in detail due to spiritual reasons
Protective oral registration is needed on the community's terms
- Reminds me of the problems with the HV1B planning

Apurina are advocating for land rights to ancestral territories under Brazilian law
This process can take decades and the protections offered are not drawing from free, prior and informed consent
Brazilian cultural heritage agency IPHAN has started to promote cultural heritage education in the dominant society, in some cases including indigenous views

Apurina approaches to protecting biocultural heritage is relatedto verbal communications and other nonhuman entities, and draws lots from secrecy.