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ETNOMAPPING: THE CASE OF VOLUNTARY ISOLATION INDIANS IN HUNI KUĨ

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Espaço & Geografia, Vol.21, No 1 (2018), 211:240
ISSN: 1516-9375

ETNOMAPPING: THE CASE OF VOLUNTARY ISOLATION

INDIANS IN HUNI KUĨ LANDS

ETNOMAPEAMENTO: O CASO DOS ÍNDIOS EM ISOLA-

MENTO VOLUNTÁRIO NAS TERRAS DOS HUNI KUĨ

José Frankneile de Melo Silva1, Matheus Pereira Libório2,

Sandro Laudare3 & Oseias da Silva Martinuci4

1
Comissão Pró-Índio do Acre - CPI-Acre
Rua Pernambuco, 1026, Bosque, Rio Branco - AC, 69900-421, Brasil
Email: frank@cpiacre.org.br, jfrankms@gmail.com

1,2 e 3
Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais - PUC Minas
Av. Dom José Gaspar, 500, Coração Eucarístico, Belo Horizonte - MG, 30535-901, Brasil
Email: m4th32s@gmail.com, Laudares@pucminas.br

4
Universidade Estadual de Maringá
Av. Colombo, 5.790, Jd. Universitário Maringá – PR, 87020-900, Brasil
Email: osmartinuci@uem.br

Recebido 22 de Agosto de 2017, aceito 21 de Novembro de 2018

ABSTRACT - Indigenous peoples still living in voluntary isolation in various remote regions
of the Amazon suffer the impacts of economic expansion, which lead to invasions of their
territories and even to violence, which lead to displacement of these to other regions inhabited
by communities’ indigenous people already “inserted” in society, and non-indigenous, which
may generate conflicts. In view of this complex situation, where the survival of isolated
Indians is a matter of concern, the knowledge of the indigenous communities contacted
becomes strategic to understand the territories, displacements, landscapes and causes
that lead to their emergence. Ethnomapping, as a participatory form of mapping, allowed
the Huni Kuĩ People of the Kaxinawá Indigenous Land of the Humaitá River to record
geographic information related to the isolated Indians and to discuss how to deal with their
presence. Structured in five phases, the work combines participatory mapping with methods
212 Silva J. F. M. et al.

of spatial analysis, documentary analysis and content analysis. The results show that there
were 64 occurrences of sightings, traces etc. of Indians isolated between 1982 and 2016 in
the indigenous territory, 50% of which were in the villages between 1995 and 2016, results
corroborated in testimonials. By content analysis, the results suggest that participatory
mapping is an instrument capable of answering relevant and sensitive issues of a territorial
nature. Among the contributions we highlight the indigenous protagonism in the process
of protection of the isolated, the sensitization of non-indigenous neighbors, the protection
actions integration with the use of geotechnologies and the design of a policy (method) of
referenced to protect isolated indigenous people.

Keywords: participatory mapping, spatial analysis, isolated Indians protection,

indigenous protagonism.

RESUMO - Os povos indígenas que ainda vivem em isolamento voluntário, em várias

regiões remotas da Amazônia, sofrem os impactos da expansão econômica, que levam à
invasões de seus territórios e até à violência, que por sua vez provocam o deslocamento
desses para outras regiões habitadas por comunidades indígenas já “inseridas” na sociedade,
além de não-indígenas, o que pode gerar possíveis conflitos. Tendo em vista esta complexa
situação, onde a sobrevivência dos índios isolados é um tema preocupante, o conhecimento
das comunidades indígenas contatadas torna-se estratégico para entender os territórios, os
deslocamentos, as paisagens e causas que levam ao seu aparecimento. O etnomapeamento,
enquanto forma participativa de mapeamento, permitiu que o Povo Huni Kuĩ da Terra
Indígena Kaxinawá do Rio Humaitá registrasse informações geográficas relacionadas aos
índios isolados, e realizassem discussões sobre como lidar com a presença destes. Estruturado
em cinco fases, o trabalho combina o mapeamento participativo com métodos de análise
espacial, análise documental e de conteúdo. Os resultados mostram que houveram 64
ocorrências de avistamentos, vestígios e etc. de índios isolados entre os anos de 1982 a 2016
no território indígena, sendo 50% delas nas aldeias entre os anos de 1995 e 2016, resultados
que são corroborados em depoimentos. Pela análise de conteúdo, os resultados sugerem
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 213

que o mapeamento participativo é um instrumento capaz de responder questões relevantes

e sensíveis de natureza territorial. Dentre as contribuições destacamos o protagonismo
indígena no processo de proteção dos isolados, a sensibilização dos vizinhos não indígenas, a
integração de ações de proteção com o uso de geotecnologias e a construção de uma política
(metodologia) de referência para proteger os povos indígenas isolados.

Palavras-chave: mapeamento participativo, análise espacial, proteção de índios isolados,

protagonismo indígena.

INTRODUCTION

The occurrences and reports about the emergence of Indians living in situations
of voluntary isolation in the Amazonian regions are increasingly perceived by
the inhabitants of indigenous lands and by the inhabitants of the region. This
situation is accompanied and described by National Indian Foundation’s (FUNAI)
Ethno-Environmental Protection Fronts located in several indigenous lands of
the Amazon, where changes occur in the behavior of isolated groups of Indians
in relation to the surrounding society, and their territorial reordering caused by
external factors, which results in displacements in the territories of the indigenous
peoples contacted (Vaz, 2011). The dynamic of isolated indigenous groups in the
Kaxinawá Indigenous Land of the Humaitá River has been affecting the daily lives
of the villages of the Huni Kuĩ people and their territorial dynamics, resulting in
significant changes in their relations with the use of their territory.

This article deals with the occurrence, increasingly frequent, of isolated

Indians in Brazilian indigenous lands, and methodological strategies to study
the issue. The text approaches the work developed with the Huni Kuĩ indigenous
people who noticed the increase of signs of the isolated Indians’ presence in
their villages, in the places of hunting, fishing and extracting natural resources
of products native to their biodiversity.
214 Silva J. F. M. et al.

The sighting of isolated indigenous people in the lands of the Huni Kuĩ relates
to a process of disrespecting and violation of their territories and their way of life.

Vaz and Balthazar (2013), for example, point out that state agents and
institutions are frequently involved in the infrastructure and exploitation of
natural resources that generate the deterritorialization of indigenous peoples.
Economic and expansionary fronts, such as logging and prospecting, drug
trafficking, penetrate territories occupied by isolated Indians, such as the
border region between the State of Acre and the Department of Ucayali in Peru,
bringing groups of Indians isolated from Peru to Brazil, which, in turn, cause
displacements of isolated Brazilian Indians (Vaz, 2011). Amorim and Conde
(2011) point out that this process tends to cause tensions due to the contact
between groups, besides epidemiological implications to the indigenous people.

The Huni Kuĩ People tried to elaborate strategies to live without greater
tensions, avoiding conflicts by the constant presence of the isolated Indians’
(isolates). Indigenous land monitoring and surveillance actions, dialogue with
neighbors to sensitize them about the isolates presence, mapping the isolates
behavior or traits, and even constructing posts of monitoring and surveillance
are examples of significant actions to mitigate tensions and conflicting territory
relations shared.

It is seen, therefore, that the essence of the problems and actions developed by
the Huni Kuĩ is spatial marked. The organization of spatial information through
mapping and geoprocessing promotes a more helpful and efficient management
of the Huni Kuĩ territory.

In this context, this paper aims to explain the potential of collaborative

mapping processes involving indigenous communities that face relevant and
sensitive issues of a territorial nature.
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 215

On the one hand, this text is a defense of the pertinence of participatory

mapping, on the other, it is also an account of the experience developed with
the Huni Kuĩ, which in its end provided subsidies to program their monitoring
and protection strategies.

THE ISOLATED INDIGENOUS STUDY

In the South American countries covered by the Amazon Basin (Brazil, Bolivia,
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela), ruled by Amazon protection policies,
the isolated indigenous people’s presence is a unique social phenomenon in the
world that needs attention. In the South American National States, as stated
by Comegna (2008), about 90% of isolated indigenous people still live in
territories protected by their own geography, with their natural barriers, where
the biodiversity and ecosystem cycles still preserved. The advance of the fronts
of expansion of Western “civilization” and its “global enterprise”, which converts
“nature” into inputs for productive processes, has reduced these territories day
by day (Vaz & Balthazar, 2013).

In Brazil, historically, these peoples have distanced themselves from the

surrounding society because of the experiences of contact, most of them very
traumatic with the use of diverse forms of violence. In addition, in recent years,
according to Heck et al. (2005), many indigenous people disappeared victims
of numerous violations. The result of all this is the continuous reduction of
these populations. Although estimates of numbers of isolated Indians are quite
variable, there is evidence that there are at least a hundred of them, with different
ethnic origins and languages, with Brazil having the largest number, with over
thirty people (Toledo, 2007).

In the State of Acre, since the 20th century beginning, when rubber trees
predominated, these peoples have been resisting and moving to places where
216 Silva J. F. M. et al.

there were no rubber plantations and rubber trees, mostly in regions of

international borders, and, deciding to remain in voluntary isolation until today,
because of attacks, massacres and diseases for which they had no immunity.
The indigenous people call them as “Indians bravos”, “relatives bravos”, or just
“bravos” (Aquino, 2012, 2013).

Considering this complex picture, where the survival of these Indians in

a situation of voluntary isolation is at stake, the knowledge of indigenous
communities is fundamental to understand the territories, landscapes,
displacements and reasons that lead to their sighting in the villages. To enhance
the problem understanding and to enable solutions addressing, “Ethnomapping”
is an approach that guarantees: first the valorization of the knowledge of
indigenous communities’ territories and second the conservancy of the way of
life of the isolated indigenous.

Ethnomapping is an approach for the territorial and environmental

management of indigenous lands provided for in the National Policy for the
Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands. As part of a
public policy, ethnomapping determines actions to protect the territory and its
natural resources, indigenous governance and participation, training, exchange,
environmental education, among other objectives, to reach an indigenous
territory free of threats (Guimarães, 2014).

Being the ethnomapping inspired by participatory mapping, it is necessary

that the participants involved elaborate and conduct the debates and dialogues,
since they work in community matters, to produce the observed territorial
scenario, including the common meanings and the challenges that surround this
territory (Silva & Jaber-Silva, 2014).

Using geoprocessing technologies in ethnomapping is also a valuable resource,

since they allow integrating the geographical information of community agents
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 217

giving visibility to territorialities, which are hard to perceive otherwise (Cardoso,

2014). The GIS (Geographic Information System), therefore, is indispensable
to facilitate participatory mapping.

For this work, geoprocessing technologies were used to record and

process information on the dynamics of isolated Indians. Also known as
geotechnologies, they allow the collection, processing and analysis of geo-
referenced information (Rosa, 2011). In addition, the information acquisition,
such as boundaries of indigenous lands and rivers, is part of the procedures
for ethnomapping, in which use GIS to produce thematic maps and to support
participatory mapping (Trancoso et al., 2012). Maps with hydrographic
network information and boundaries of indigenous lands are taken by the
team responsible for mediating activities, facilitating the work of indigenous
communities, who map their location and information of their interests, with
a symbolic pattern appropriate and selected by themselves (Silva & Verbicaro,
2016).

The information collected through the mappings should have a process

planning before being transferred to a GIS environment. In this process
it is necessary to observe how to insert the different data, considering
the layers of information and their respective formats (points, lines or
polygons). This process stems from the work of communities that can enter
identical information in different formats, grouped with other information
or even separated into distinct categories. After this process, the different
digital layers with their respective information will support the GIS
analysis (Sztutman, 2006). The structured GIS, based on the processes of
transformation of information from traditional communities, to meet the
needs of generating thematic maps requires a team with knowledge in the
areas of geoprocessing, so that institutions and organizations have the full
218 Silva J. F. M. et al.

autonomy to replicate the process of participatory mapping and related

methodologies (De Melo et al., 2007).

To address these issues from the empirical perspective, he developed research

on the Kaxinawá Indigenous Land of the Humaitá River, territory of the Huni
Kuĩ.

STUDY AREA

The study area is the Kaxinawá Indigenous Land of the Humaitá River (Figure
1), in southwest Amazonas, in the Municipality of Feijó, Acre State. Demarcated
in 1994, the area has a current population of 418 inhabitants of the Huni Kuĩ
People (CPI-Acre, 2016), distributed in five villages located downstream of the
Humaitá River basin. The villages, towards the headwaters, are: Vigilante, Boa
Sorte, Boa Vista, São Vicente and Novo Futuro.

Figure 1 – Kaxinawá Indigenous Land of the Humaitá River location.

Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 219

The indigenous land occupies an area of 127.383 hectares and borders the
Kulina indigenous lands of the Envira River in the southeast and Alto Tarauacá
in the southwest. To the south, its limits find the Indigenous Land Kampa and
Isolated of the Envira River. The lands are part of a mosaic of indigenous lands
demarcated, which locates along the border strip near the parallel 10 ° south
latitude. Accessed through the Humaitá River, an affluent of the Muru River.
The mouth of the Muru River locates on the Tarauacá River, which is five days
long from the municipality of Tarauacá. The headwater of the Tarauacá River
is near the water dividers, between the boundaries of the Kaxinawá Indigenous
Lands of the Rio Humaitá and Kampa and Isolated of the Envira River, a region
considered habitat of the isolated Indians.

METHODOLOGY

This case study research (Yin, 2015) is of qualitative and quantitative nature
and involves techniques of (i) participatory mapping (phases 1 to 3) to collect
information about the isolated Indians dynamic; (ii) methods of spatial analysis
(phase 4) to quantify and analyze the spatial-temporal records about isolated
Indians; and (iii) content and documentary analysis (phase 5) to understand the
impact / extension of actions from previous phases.

Participatory Mapping

The diversity of forms of life and territorial appropriation also requires a diversity
of forms of apprehension, understanding and representation of the world. The
specificity of the territoriality of indigenous peoples requires a methodological
strategy that considers their experiences, their knowledge and their practices as
legitimate in the cartographic process. More than that, incorporate the traditional
220 Silva J. F. M. et al.

peoples as “cartographers” / mappers of their own knowledge about the territory,

protagonists of their own representations about the world.

Several experiences in Brazilian territory have been registered with the

application and development of cartographies that are more adequate to these
requirements and which approach respect for traditional peoples (Acselrad,
2010). These cartographies names are: social, participatory, collaborative, among
others. Despite similar characteristics, they have distinctions.

Social cartography is understood as a tool that is adapted to the needs of social

groups, which use cartographic representation technologies, in their most modern
forms, in the spaces and decision-making processes in which they were not part
of it. In this way, the political action of these groups, uses the conventional
techniques of cartography to emphasize the territorial characteristics mapped
by them. The “cartographer” subject, in this sense, is also a political subject,
a quality that is guaranteed with autonomy over the production of spatial
information, which in turn levels its own political decisions in their worlds
(Acselrad & Viegas, 2013, p.17); and social cartography is placed as a political
tool, not just a technical one, where the map is no longer the most important,
but rather the context generated around it (Caceres, 2012, p.124).

Collaborative cartography definition is according to the encyclopaedia Itaú

Cultural of Brazilian Art and Culture, a collective and decentralized exploitation
of a region or place, through the visualization of maps in the network, allowing
not only a direct interaction to include information (technical, historical, critical,
etc.) but to get reinterpretations about the territory from the perspectives of the
communities. In this context, Joliveau (2008, p.56) suggests developing studies
in GIS by a more collaborative and participative way, be such studies from public
or collective organizations, free from a private management or service that use
them privately. The accessibility of data and tools should be in collaboration
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 221

with the largest number of people, starting with first-level queries and the need
to share analyzes and simulations of spatial phenomena.

Participatory cartography according to Acselrad and Coli (2008, p.17)

has been a sub-field with the use of GIS for cartographic practices and their
representations. However, its social domain is demarcated by institutional ideas
imposed not only, but also from the cultural and cognitive point of view of its
social actors directing their actions, legitimized through disputes involving
spatial representations. And the field of cartographic production inherent
to them, has been accompanied by the problematization of a conventional
cartography that, according to the institutional entrepreneurs, whose premise
is the technologies of participatory mapping, must legitimize their expertise as
a way of asserting the populations over their territories and resources.

Ethnomapping, in this context, is among several terminologies or participatory

forms identified in Brazil, as mapping involving local populations, with
methodological strategies underlying it (Acselrad & Coli 2008, p.24). However,
there is a problem in the “ethnomaps” production, according to Acselrad and
Viégas (2013, p.24), since traditional knowledge is fragmented in cartographic
representations, producing maps with separate themes: hunting maps, fishing
maps, maps of vegetation, etc. In the traditional indigenous knowledge situation,
these aspects are holistic viewed, leaving to understand that the ethnomaps are
more for “an action that is being carried out with traditional peoples than for
these peoples, through their knowledge” (Acselrad & Viégas 2013 p.24). The
knowledge evidenced in the process of map production gains strength in the
sense it recognizes the various knowledge about the territory under a varied
number of domains, coming from people who are hunters, fishermen, etc., and
that, together, allow the mapping of a process (Acselrad & Viégas, 2013).

In this way, cartography enables an environment of collective discussion,

222 Silva J. F. M. et al.

where everyone speaks and discusses aiming at a better understanding of their

territory and can generate political effects.

The importance of this mapping strategy among indigenous communities

has been recognized by the National Policy for Territorial and Environmental
Management of Indigenous Lands (PNGATI). In PNGATI, established through
Decree 7,747 of June 5, 2012, defines in its article 2 that ethnomapping is “the
participatory mapping of areas of environmental, sociocultural and productive
relevance for indigenous peoples, based on knowledge and indigenous
knowledge” (Brasil, 2012a).

Besides, FUNAI (Brasil, 2012b) explores the PNGATI ethnomapping

definition (Brasil, 2012a), detailing it as a mapping made from free drawings,
using satellites, maps or geographic charts, and sketches. Cartographic products
derived from ethnomapping locate important areas of indigenous territory:
traditional areas of use, natural resources, environmental impacts and other
information of interest or relevance to indigenous peoples.

For Harley (2005), cartography from time immemorial has always served
to legitimize territorial ownership and the self-existence recognition. With the
advance of capitalism, Harley records, the practices of concealment of the peoples
in the territories were common. The invasion, expropriation and appropriation of
territories were commonly legitimized by the (non) cartographic representation
that they were part of (and continue to do) the rhetoric of discourses. In other
words, the cartographic silence in the maps exerts an active function in the
territorial dynamics. The mapping that incorporates subjects into their own
territories representation, therefore, is a very important methodological leap to
overcome the problem of the “cartographic silences” of which Harley speaks. In
this context, therefore, the question raised by Acselrad (2010, p.5) regarding the
general formal mapping processes is “extremely relevant”: “who is mapping?”.
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 223

Given, on the one hand, the need to deepen studies, researches and
applications of cartographic methodologies that value the perspective of
territorial subjects, and on the other, the importance of giving greater visibility
to indigenous territories so that they are respected and jointly defended by the
Brazilian society, we carried out a research the Huni Kuĩ people ethnomapping

The Huni Kuĩ ethnomapping experience framework

As a participatory mapping modality, ethnomapping, as defined in the National

Policy on Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands,
allowed for the registration and discussion of various geographical information
by Huni Kuĩ, such as foreclosures, geographical accidents, areas of occurrence
and use of natural resources, among others (Brasil, 2010).

Methodological, the ethnomapping allowed to include the indigenous

community in the process of cartographic production as an active agent and
not only as a mere information provider, valuing their knowledge about the
territory and its way of seeing the world, qualifying them through cartographic
techniques and resulting spatial representations.

The NGO Pro-Índio of Acre, which acts for several years with indigenous
peoples in the state, monitored and supported the indigenous territories mapping
process, giving technical qualifying and guidance to the participants (CPI-Acre,
2016).

Methodological guided by the principles of ethnomapping, the work

development with the Huni Kuĩ people of the Kaxinawá Indigenous Land of the
Humaitá River also combined methods of spatial analysis and content analysis,
building a five phases methodological framework.

Phase 1 - Articulations and preliminary dialogues with communities: building

224 Silva J. F. M. et al.

a dialogue with indigenous communities and set up ties of trust. Definition of

the central problem of mapping in line with the wishes and needs of indigenous
communities. Through meetings, it highlights the problem of the isolates sighting
in the indigenous lands, and the need to protect them. The activities carried out
in the five villages of the Kaxinawá Indigenous Land of Humaitá River included:
exhibition of images with isolated Indians of the region, discussion workshops
on the protection policies of isolated Indians within FUNAI and presentation
of thematic maps on the trans-boundary spatial dynamics and their impacts on
indigenous territories.

Phase 2 - Planning and preparation of basic cartography: preparation of

cartographic materials that depict basic aspects of the territories, allowing the
subjects of these territories to recognize its main aspects, facilitating their auto-
localization, as well as other phenomena. For this, the “mapper subject” used
printed maps in the 1: 90,000 scale, containing the boundaries of the indigenous
lands, the hydrographic network and the geographical coordinates of the villages.
The sources of these printed cartographic materials were: hydrographical digital
cartographic base of the Geographic Services Directorate (DSG), in the 1:
100,000 scale with hydrographic network data (Brasil, 2004); the cartographic
base of the indigenous lands of FUNAI and the base of the villages of the
Indigenous Land Kaxinawá of the Humaitá River, scale 1: 50,000, prepared
by the CPI-Acre (2016). These databases helped the Huni Kuĩ to identify the
geographic evidences of isolates in phase 3.

Phase 3 - Mapping of the uses of the territory and its events: using the
cartographic material, the “mapping subjects” recorded events in the territory
of five indigenous communities. These events refer to the use of territory
(hunting, fishing, collection, flow of fauna, hydrography, history of occupation,
etc.) and sightings of isolated Indians. During the mappings, testimonies about
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 225

isolates reported sightings traces found, looting and attacks suffered over
time. The records in the printed cartographic material are analogical, with the
symbology defined and drawn during workshops and activities by the Indians
themselves (Silva & Verbicaro, 2016). Besides the mappings, the participants
produced drawings and illustrations related to plants, animals, among others,
to compose the maps’ captions (Alcântara, 2005). These records contributed to
the systematization and structuring of the computational environment carried
out in phase 4.

Phase 4 - Geoprocessing and spatial analysis: the geoprocessing and spatial

analysis requires GIS specialist’s participation (De Melo et al., 2007). The
specialists performed four procedures in the software ArcGis 10.0: (1) digitization
and vectorizations of land use maps; (2) digitization and vectorizations of isolate
Indians sighting maps (with attributes of: location, category, date, occurrence,
observations, informant and source); (3) delimitation of the coverage areas
of each village, according to the use of the territory. Defined by the distance
between the planting location (identified by supervised classification) and the
village location (5% of the largest distances represented outliers [1] and were
not used in the calculation); (4) generation of the coverage area of the village
by creating polygons with a radius of 2,300 meters, distance which represents
de 95% of the plantings of the village (the others 5% were outliers). The
geoprocessing sector of the Pro-Índio do Acre Commission (CPI-Acre, 2016)
performed the procedures 1 and 2. The vector data is in the shapefile format and
the tabular data is with its temporal attribute. This made it possible to analyze
the behavior of the isolates in the Huni Kuĩ villages from a temporal perspective.
The maps produced in the laboratory present an “indigenous legend” in the
effort to represent and legitimize indigenous cartography in technical maps.
Geoprocessing in participatory mapping contributes to extract adjacent analyzes,
226 Silva J. F. M. et al.

necessary to capture the dynamics of the problem under study.

The geoprocessing and spatial analysis approach make it possible to

understand the diverse territorialities of the geographic space, based on the daily
life of the individuals inhabiting it (Silva & Verbicaro, 2016) and, so, does not
dispense sophisticated technological resources, on the contrary, they qualify
the participatory mapping.

Acselrad and Coli (2008, p.22) affirm that the GIS associate’s different
information to the geographic plane, favors pluralistic and interest analyzes of
the communities and supports their processes of discussion and decision making.

Phase 5 - Content and documentary analysis - content analysis is the analysis

of the message itself, making up itself as the starting point and fundamental
indicator of the analysis, used as a unit of registration to study the motivations
of opinions, attitudes, values, beliefs and trends (Bardin, 2011), being a
communication analysis technique that analyzes what was said in interviews
or observed by the researcher (Silva & Fossá, 2017).

The documentary analysis represents the attention and concern of the

researcher in to identify and communicate documentary evidence with other
sources of data makes it less likely that documentary evidence will lead the
researcher to error or it is unwise to interpret the evidence content (Yin, 2015).

This approach aims to deepen the impact/extension of collaborative mapping

understanding in the isolated Indians context and expose the efficacy of the
previous phases. The procedures performed were: (i) reading the material
produced in the workshops, with the activities and results descriptions (CPI-
Acre, 2016); (ii) the transcribed interviews analysis (Sabóia, 2012 and Silva,
2016); (iii) other indigenous lands field visits, and its correspondent discussions
about the isolates; (iv) the documentary analysis (297 pages) of the work on
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 227

sensitization and information on isolates (Aquino, 2012) including photographic

records (Di Deus, 2009); and (v) treatment of results, inference and interpretation
(understanding the manifest and latent contents from all collected material).

It is noteworthy that the five phases and their respective procedures occurred at
different moments, and in a nonlinear and unpartitioned manner. The articulation
with the communities began in 2005 and lasted until 2016, a progressive process
rethought and reconstructed day by day and as the activities unfolded.

RESULTS

The partial results, got in each of the five phases of the research, are associated
and presented interspersed, seeking to validate the empirical evidences with the
statements, photos etc. that are results of the content and documentary analysis.

For example, the activities included in the first phase produced changes in the
thinking, posture and manner of the Huni Kuĩ dealing with the isolates presence
in their native land, as understanding the causes of the increase of the isolated
Indian apparitions and to devise strategies to prevent or mitigate the occurrences
of looting in their homes and plantations. The Huni Kuĩ realized the real need to
ensure the physical and cultural survival of these peoples who live in voluntary
isolation from the various threats presented during the workshops. Thus, among
the strategies for protecting the territory and isolated indigenous peoples living
in the headwaters of the Humaitá River, the Huni Kuĩ have prepared territorial
management plans (Gavazzi; Rocha, 2015; Almeida; Ochoa; Gavazzi, 2016)
in which they propose actions in partnership with FUNAI, through its General
Coordination of Isolated Indians and the Government of the State of Acre.

Among these proposals are: (i) to train and support the Huni Kuĩ in monitoring
isolated Indians; (ii) to create a support post in the headwaters of the Humaitá
228 Silva J. F. M. et al.

River (mouth of the Boa Esperança stream) to monitor the displacement of the
isolated Indians and to support activities of surveillance and control of invasions
of loggers, hunters and illegal fishermen, carried out by agencies such as
FUNAI; (iii) to sensitize residents of the surroundings of the Muru and Ibuiaçu
rivers through workshops; (iv) to preserve close to one-third of the indigenous
land extent (around 40,000 hectares) for the exclusive use of isolates from the
headwaters of the Humaitá River through the Huni Kuĩ people’s leaders and
representatives commitment (Gavazzi; Rocha, 2015; Almeida; Ochoa; Gavazzi,
2016).

The participatory mapping, using the printed cartographic base, resulted in a

detailed record of the dynamics of isolated Indians in (i) the indigenous land; (ii)
Huni Kuĩ villages and (iii) territory sharing area identification, as established in
the document elaborated by Huni Kuĩ leaderships. According to Sabóia (2012,
p.130), from the reflections on this isolated Indians records emerged actions
to protect them and their territories. Territories which are associated with a
new indigenous land identification in the headwaters of the Muru rivers and
Tarauacá. Land in the limits of the Indigenous Land Kaxinawá of the Humaitá
River with the Indigenous Land Kaxinawá of the river Jordan, Indigenous Land
Kaxinawá of the rubber plantation Independence and Indigenous Land High
Tarauacá. In addition, Sabóia (2012) states that due to the invasions of hunters
and fishermen, it is important to set up surveillance posts at the headwaters of
the Muru and Rio Humaitá River s, in the Nova Esperança stream, because
it is a place of transit for the Indians isolated to the places of non-indigenous
occupation on the Muru River. Such protection strategies, planned with the
Huni Kuĩ participation, photographically recorded according Figure 2 and 3,
are necessary as the population of the “bravos” increases and others move from
Peru to the indigenous territories of Acre.
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 229

Figure 2 – Photographic record of isolates occurrences mapping. Source: Di Deus

(2009).

Figure 3 – Photographic record of the Leader Francisco da Frota, from Boa Vista
Village. Source: Di Deus (2009).
230 Silva J. F. M. et al.

The spatiotemporal analysis of areas with occurrences of isolated Indians

revealed 64 occurrences of isolates throughout the indigenous land between
1982 and 2016. Sites of these occurrences were along the Humaitá River and in
the villages, with half in the villages and proximities and the rest to the north,
near the Novo Futuro village. Novo Futuro village stands on the banks of the
Humaitá River, occupied historically by non-Indians, before the demarcation
of the indigenous land. The map in Figure 4 shows the occurrences distribution
of isolates in the Huni Kuĩ indigenous land.

Figure 4 – Map of all the occurrences and the area destined to the isolates of the
Indigenous Land Kaxinawá of the Humaitá River.
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 231

According to Sabóia (2012), in 1977 occurred the identification and

delimitation of the Kaxinawá Indigenous Land of Rio Humaitá. This year,
residents near the Huni Kuĩ were rubber tappers and white bosses known as
“cariús”. In the 1980s the first cases of sightings and looting took place in the
ancient village of the Ashaninka People. Their malocas and plantings location
were on dry land, in the water dividers, where the sources of the Humaitá River
and the headwaters of the Envira river, near the mouth of the Tres Cantos stream.
Before this period, the isolated Indians moved only through the headwaters of
the Humaitá River, down to the mouth of the Boa Esperança stream.

Considering the coverage area of the villages of the indigenous land (2,300
meters radius), there were 32 occurrences of isolates between the years 1995 and
2016. Among these occurrences, the Huni Kuĩ did not identify the date of one trace
recorded in the village São Vincente. Such a trace refers to traces and to a kind of
sign with crossed twigs, in which they call them signs of barriers and/or blocking.

In the 11-year time interval (between 1995 and 2005), the mappings reveal
only two records of traces occurrence, identified in the villages Vigilante and
São Vicente.

Between 2006 and 2016 the number of occurrences increased in the five
villages of indigenous land. The sightings, looting and traces analyzed during
the period presented the following situations: (1) sightings totaled 10 records,
being distributed among the villages: Vigilante (with two sightings), Boa Sorte
(with two sightings), Boa Vista (with three sightings) and São Vicente (with
three sightings), and no sighting in the Novo Futuro village; (2) Looting took
place in the villages Novo Futuro (four registers) and São Vicente (one register);
(3) the vestiges, in greater number, occurred 15 times, distributed in the villages
Novo Futuro (with six vestiges), São Vicente (with eight vestiges) and Vigilante
(with one vestige).
232 Silva J. F. M. et al.

The São Vicente and Novo Futuro villages were the ones with the highest
number of occurrences, with 14 and 10 records. Other villages, Vigilante,
Boa Sorte and Boa Vista together, totaled 9 occurrences of isolates. The map
of Figure 5 shows the occurrences distribution in the villages according their
areas of coverage.

Figure 5 - Occurrences of isolates in villages and coverage areas.

Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 233

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

In the correlation between the number of occurrences and the population number
of each village (Table 1), the size of the population and the locations of the
villages are factors influence the dynamics and distribution of occurrences.

Table 1: Population of the villages and number of occurrences of isolates in the years
1995 to 2016.
Village Population Sighting Looting Vestige Total
Vigilante 96 2 0 2 4
Boa Sorte 69 2 0 0 2
Boa Vista 28 3 0 0 3
São Vicente 137 3 1 10 14
Novo Futuro 88 0 4 6 10
Total 418 10 5 18 33
Source: CPI-Acre (2016).

The São Vicente and Novo Futuro village’s location are further south
compared to other villages, towards the headwaters of the Humaitá River. Novo
Futuro village, has a smaller population compared to the village Vigilante,
however the number of occurrences is much higher.

Looting is more frequent in the villages of Novo Futuro and São Vicente.
This is a fact of concern to the Huni Kuĩ, as they are closer to the headwaters of
the river and have household utensils (pans) and tools (axes and machetes) that
attract isolated Indians’ attention, especially in the summer when sighting are
more common. However, in recent years, the behavior of isolates has changing.
The isolated Indians are moving ever further down the river, in the villages near
the mouth of the Humaitá River. According to Silva (2016) and Sabóia (2012),
each summer in the Amazon, the attacks begin in the village Novo Futuro, and
follow the village of São Vicente, where the malocas are more distant from each
234 Silva J. F. M. et al.

other and usually empty, what causes many lootings.

To solve or to reduce the lootings problem, the Huni Kuĩ built in 2010 a tapiri at
the mouth of the Boa Esperança stream. This tapiri is used to monitor the isolated
Indians and find out which People they belong to. Called the “toast house,” the tapiri
is a kind of post where the Huni Kuĩ leave their household utensils and tools. Tapiri
checking occurs once a month when the Huni Kuĩ leaders identify which those
materials the isolated Indians preferred. With this strategy, the Huni Kuĩ minimized
the looting as much in the villages as in the plantings. Silva (2016) reports that: “from
2015 to 2016, there was a pause in the sightings, because they are going to tapiri,
so that this year they only researched in the villages, without getting into a mess.”

Even with the decrease in lootings the isolated Indians are still frequenting
the villages. In 2016, occurred 8 traces of signs of barriers and/or blockings,
with twigs or crossed straws in the middle of the village paths and even close to
the malocas. This occurs because the population of these peoples is increasing,
explaining the greater frequency of vestiges, sightings and recently seeds
subtraction from the plantations. The growing population demands more food,
which depends on more planting and finally more tools (lawn mowers and axes)
to work them (Sabóia, 2012).

Although occurrences reported in the five villages in the year 2017 are not
mapped, the number of occurrences of isolates is more frequent, as observed the
communities. However, the awareness work promoted with the Huni Kuĩ has
avoided conflicts by not approaching, more caution and care during sightings
that occur during hunting or fishing activities, or even in villages.

The results achieved regarding protecting the people in situations of voluntary

isolation, produced by their monitoring and sensitization of the non-indigenous
neighbors and supported by CPI-Acre (2016) are a conquest of their protagonists. These
results are corroborated by the following leader Huni Kuĩ Sabioia (2016) statement:
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 235

“Since this work began, we have partnered with CPI-Acre (Pro-Índio

do Acre Commission) to come and monitor us, helping with experiences,
exchanges, and people with self-interest, community, indigenous people,
we have this experience of our own. My relatives suffered a lot from this,
from children to women, the younger ones, being afraid of the other Indian
(isolated). We have been working with our Huni Kuĩ P People, the non-
Indians, who are the nawá and the protection of the isolated, it is these three
parts that we have been working with. The CPI-Acre and FUNAI supports
and forms the Indian to care for the other Indian (isolated). The important
thing is for us to do our work, the CPI-Acre to help, FUNAI to help. So,
whoever is winning is the community, the indigenous people themselves.”

The actions of FUNAI’s various Ethno-Environmental Fronts, which operate

in the Amazon, where there are many references of isolated indigenous peoples,
must consider not only the reports of indigenous peoples who share their
territories with isolated indigenous peoples, but also the indigenous protagonism
itself. Like the work of the Huni Kuĩ P People, ethnomapping is an important
tool for strengthening the Indian’s role in protecting his isolated relatives, which
in fact shows a participatory and lasting approach. This example is a reference
for policies to protect indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.

CONCLUSION

The maps elaboration that organize the occurrences of isolated Indians in the
Kaxinawá Indigenous Land of the Humaitá River contributed to understand
the dynamics of these peoples and help the Huni Kuĩ People to plan their
protection and coexistence. If the presence is more frequent, the mapping,
236 Silva J. F. M. et al.

although incomplete, is the source of the information that reveals and explains
the spatial dynamics of the relations between the Huni Kuĩ and the isolated
Indians. Actions such as workshops, participatory mapping and map production
have transformed Huni Kui’s way of thinking and acting in relation to his “strong
relatives,” strengthening his political positioning.

The actions developed gave the Huni Kuĩ the full knowledge, clarity and
mastery of the actions of monitoring and protection of “isolated relatives”.
Indigenous initiatives in this sense are visible when we observe in their
statements the concern, care and mobilization of the community to strengthen
the policies of protection of isolated indigenous peoples before the responsible
bodies and civil society. The occurrence map of the isolated Indians is not
only a product of the workshops, it is an instrument of support in meetings and
awareness raising promoted by the Huni Kuĩ, either for their own people or for
the neighbors around the indigenous land. An instrument that approximates and
facilitates dialogue, involves all in the search for support of public policies, and
draws society’s attention to the need for protection of isolated Indians.

Geographic information on occurrences has taken place since 2009, involves

a comprehensive region and includes indigenous lands and non-indigenous
residents. Therefore, the challenge of carrying out participatory workshops and
mapping remains in the regions around the area studied but has in the Huni Kuĩ
a reference experience to continue the work. Work that has as the fundamental
characteristic the indigenous protagonism on the actions of isolates protection.
The research opens the opportunity for new work, which can explore other
training processes such as handling geotechnologies and other tools to support
actions, monitor or protect the isolates. At last, we suggest that researchers
explore participatory mapping in other matters, always respecting the culture
and way the Indian sees the world.
Etnomapping: The Case of Voluntary Isolation Indians in Huni Kuĩ 237

Notes:

[1] Outliers represent values of a certain random sample of the population

are at an out-of-normal range of the other values. An outlier may be due to
variability in the measurement or it may show experimental error; the outliers
are frequently excluded from the data set (Hair et al., 2009).

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