Maxacali
The Maxacali or Maxakali are an ethnic group of indigenous people in Brazil.
Geography and ethnology
The Maxacali live in the parishes of Santa Helena de Minas , Bertópolis , Ladainha and Teófilo Otoni in the state of Minas Gerais . The 1,460 members of the indigenous people live in a state of isolation and poverty and often suffer from malnutrition and alcoholism . Child mortality is high due to a lack of medical care: According to indigenous representatives, 25 children from a group of 1,200 Maxacali died in 2004.
The Maxacali used to live in dome-shaped single-family huts made of palm leaf mats over a framework of branches stuck into the ground. They used the fibers of the inner bark of the ant trees to make cords, nets, hammocks, bags and baskets. They made bows and arrows and used them as well as other weapons. They knew and used a number of pharmacologically active substances, including fish poisons and hallucinogenic drugs.
Most of the Maxacali want to continue living as a semi-nomadic indigenous people and were able to preserve large parts of their culture, language and religion. But nowadays there are already mixed marriages.
mythology
In the Maxacali creation story , the creator Topar gave the Maxacali a tame otter for otter fishing . This will help them to always have something to eat, as long as they do not forget to always give the otter the three largest of the fish it has caught to eat. After the otter keeper's grandson-in-law disregarded this rule, punishment was punished by a flood.
language
The Maxacali used to speak several similar dialects, which are classified in the Maxacali language group. John Alden Mason identified six different dialects of the Maxacali language, five of which are now extinct:
- Maxacalí
- Caposhó (Kapoxo) (†)
- Cumanashó (Kumanaxo) (†)
- Maconí (Makuni) (†)
- Monoshó (Monaxo, Monocho) (†)
- Panyame (†)
In addition, the Maxacali language group still contains the largely extinct languages Malalí and Pataxó , although a few words from the latter have been preserved and used.
literature
- Johann Emanuel Pohl : Journey in the interior of Brazil: on the highest command of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, Franz the First, undertaken and published in the years 1817-1821, Volume 2, 1837, page 446ff.
- Norman Lewis : They're all going to be exterminated. The mass murder of the Brazilian Indians. Der Spiegel 46/1969 from November 10, 1969.
Web links
- Maxakalí language and Maxakalían languages on the English Wikipedia
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eliane Fernandes Ferreira: Indigenous ethnic groups of Brazil: their struggle for land, rights, social recognition and their ethnic self-esteem: a study on the current situation of the indigenous people of Brazil, LIT Verlag Münster, 2002. Page 97.
- ↑ Maxakali child dies in Minas Gerais due to a lack of medical care. ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Message from the Cimi Indian Mission Council dated February 3, 2005. Retrieved on May 11, 2014.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica: Maxakali.
- ^ Restoration of the natural environment in the area of the Maxakali indigenous group. ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Instituto Socioambiental - Maxakali.
- ↑ Jonathan W. Warren: Antiracism and Indian Resurgence in Brazil . Durham [NC]: Duke University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8223-2741-4 , link
