The Ethnic Group of the Ayoreo

As hunters and gatherers, until the 20th century the Ayoreo people inhabited a vast territory of the Northern Chaco covering over 30 million hectares (300,000 Km².), covering practically the entire area delimited by the Rivers Paraguay, Pilcomayo, Parapetí and Grande. However, they did not move into riverbank areas, leaving them to other indigenous groups. So their territory extended from the Chiquitania mountain range in Bolivia in the north, down south to the area of the Mennonite Colonies in the Paraguayan Central Chaco.

Like the Chamacoco language, the Ayoreo tongue belongs to the Zamuco linguistic family.

Until the first forced contacts made by surrounding society, which took place around 1945 in Bolivia and just before 1960 in Paraguay, both the extension of the Ayoreo territory as well as the number of Ayoreo (approximately 5,000 persons), had remained stable, proof of the equilibrium of the Ayoreo with their environment.

In the 18th century, the Ayoreo had a fleeting contact with the Jesuit reductions. Apparently a significant number of Ayoreo lived for about 20 years in a reduction called San Ignacio Zamuco. Its location is cause of speculation: it may have been near Cerro León or in the Ingávi area of what is now Paraguay. No tangible trace has been found of their contact with the Jesuits, other than a few myths and words in the vocabulary.

	Small clearing in the forest, typical for Amotocodie. Such places are used for planting during the rainy seasons.

Economic Means of Support

The Ayoreo economy is based on hunting the Chaco forest’s animals (wild pigs, armadillos, ant bears, turtles) and gathering (honey, wild fruits, vegetable fibers and raw materials for the production of utilitarian objects). In the rainy summer season these means of support are complemented with fishing in streams and lagoons, and with crops cultivated in small clearings in the bush.

Traditionally manifold distribution systems and mechanisms ensured redistribution within the family and local group of all that could be hunted, gathered or harvested. In this way the elderly, widows, orphans, etc. who, for some reason or another, were not able to engage directly in a materially productive activity, were able to partake in the benefits.

These distribution mechanisms still hold today in their non-traditional sedentary life outside the bush. Indeed, they are applied to the products and earnings stemming from the production forms of modern life so all that “enters” is immediately redistributed and the resulting non-accumulation of material goods ensures, to date, a high degree of Ayoreo personal and collective mobility, as well as a natural continuance of mechanisms of social stability as well as of bonds of solidarity which protect their weakest members.

Social and Political Organization

In the times of their traditional life prior to contact, the Ayoreo were politically organized into more than fifty local groups which moved through the vastness of their territory dividing it among each other. Each group enjoyed a high degree of political autonomy, and leadership was independent of the other groups. Relations among many of these local groups, in the same way as relations with the other indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, implied war. The local groups might divide into subgroups, separate temporarily and later reunite according to the needs and circumstances of their constant movement. There was no hierarchy or centralized leadership for the entire ethnic group. Coincidentally, the territories of the local groups had no geographical center nor did the territory of the entire ethnic group.

Neither the composition of local groups nor the extension of their territories should be considered permanent. Ayoreo history shows that divisions leading to the disappearance of groups were normal, as was the creation of new groups, groups formed by the merger of different groups and changes of name, with the subsequent changes and redefinitions of group territory.

This political organization conveys the idea of dynamism, constant social mobility, absence of a hierarchical ordering and centralizing principles, and a powerful capacity to adapt to the circumstances of life.

The most important unit of social and economic organization was the “jogasüi”, the extended family encompassing also other families in close proximity.

Parallel to their political organization, the ethnic group was divided into seven clans. Even today, the respective clan name continues being the surname (family name) of each and every member of the Ayoreo ethnic group. The members of each one of the seven clans share a common mythological origin and kinship ties which comprise, for each clan, a series of animals, plants, natural phenomena in general including e.g. meteorological conditions, as well as utilitarian objects and all man- made objects. For the Ayoreo, the fact of belonging to a clan, together with other the beings of the world, provides a sense of strong union and solidarity. In this way, the totality of the seven clan as a whole includes everything that exists and, in turn, everything that exists is a relative of the Ayoreo.

The structure of clan relations coexists with and pervades the social organization of the local groups; it extends over the entire ethnic group like an invisible net, pre-establishing close ties and mutual support even among persons who never met physically but who recognize themselves as (non-blood) kin when they meet.

Ayoreo Culture in Modern Life

The expressions, options and thoughts of traditional Ayoreo culture are still experienced and fully in effect in those groups which live in voluntary isolation. With regard to the rest, the majority of Ayoreo that nowadays lives sedentarily outside the forest, although coexistence with surrounding society has changed their external manners and utilitarian objects, their basic attitudes and views still reflect the essentials of Ayoreo traditional culture: high degree of mobility; non-accumulation; profound trust in nature, in the world and themselves; high degree of personal autonomy within the structures of collective organization; and an attitude of equity – non-superiority – for the world and nature, among others.

Rapport with Nature and the World

Today their attitude and rapport with nature are of particular interest and relevance to surrounding society. As hunters and gatherers, the Ayoreo have not attempted to dominate or transform nature and the world, instead they depend completely on what they receive from nature.

The Ayoreo do not destroy their environment, and survival is possible provided that nature remains unaltered: in its untouched state, nature gives what is needed.

Agriculture is seen as men giving support to nature, rather than as act of transformation or domination of nature.

The Ayoreo go where nature offers sustenance, hence the need to be on the move and go from one place to another almost on a daily basis.

In traditional times, the local group remained in an area to hunt and gather until animals and fruit became scarce. Then they returned to another area where resources have had time to regenerate. The territory was so vast that animals and vegetation of an exploited area had time to regenerate before the return of a group.

Ayoreo culture fully complied with the modern postulate of sustainability. To date the Ayoreo are the only people who have known how to coexist with the Chaco without their presence causing environmental alterations or imbalances.

Situation and Present Life Away from their Ancestral Territories

The seizure of the vast historical Ayoreo territory by non-indigenous settlers and surrounding society has led to important transformations and a notorious decline in the quality of life of the Ayoreo. Ancestral practices of balanced coexistence with the environment were abruptly interrupted when the local Ayoreo groups, who lived on and gave life to a huge extension of forest in the Gran Chaco, were pulled out of their habitat, deported to missionary settlements and forced to lead sedentary lives.

Today the Chaco forests are increasingly affected by the gradual alteration and destruction of its eco-systems, which are being transformed into extensive cattle grazing lands. Indeed, current business and productive transactions of surrounding society, that are incompatible with Ayoreo culture, are determining the present and future of the Ayoreo ancestral territories. The model of surrounding society is incompatible with a sustainable future for the Chaco and for modern society.

At present, apart from a few small groups that continue living in the forest without contact, most of the Ayoreo natives no longer live in the forest but live permanently in about 22 settlements in Bolivia and currently 13 settlements in Paraguay (June 2005). Only 3 of the settlements in Paraguay are located within the traditional Ayoreo territories. The total number of members of the ethnic group continues to stand at about 4,000, half of which live on Paraguayan territory.

Most of the local groups of the past have disappeared. Today in Paraguay, the Ayoréode are subdivided into three main local groups: Garaygosode, Totobiegosode and Guidaigosode. The latter is the result of a historical alliance in the first half of last century between several groups such as the Ducodegosode, Tiegosode, Erampeparigosode and Amomegosode. These local groups joined in the alliance of the Guidaigosode, but have maintained their own identity to a certain degree. Currently there occurs an intermingling of members of all the different local groups in the stable settlements.

Nowadays´ Poverty

It is important to emphasize that prior to the onset of the encroachment into their territories about 45 to 60 years ago, the Ayoreo had no knowledge of what we nowadays call poverty.

Induced to abandon life in the forest under false promises and settled into large and permanent communities, with a non-indigenous economic model totally alien to their way of living, their close and special rapport with the forest and the environment is starting to change and lose its meaning. Presently, the situation of the Ayoreo shows the effects of an accelerated process of impoverishment and of increasing loss of autonomy. Their dependence on the way of living of surrounding society is growing, but without opportunities to reach a new standard of living compatible with human dignity and the respect for the environment. A number of Ayoreo now live near centers with significant non-indigenous population, in extremely poor conditions, looking for precarious odd jobs as laborers in an insecure, irrational and excluding labor market. Many young Ayoreo have no clear prospects for the future nor constructive possibilities.

Prospects for the Future

	Ayoreo boy, settlement of Campo Loro.

Non-indigenous surrounding society is called upon to give and provide the space required for the Ayoreo to start redefining their collective life project. And this space must integrate their traditional productive activities together with the acquired modern ones.

Without ownership or at least the retrieval of access and use /exploitation of their ancestral territories, the necessary redefinition of the Ayoreo collective life project is unthinkable. This redefinition demands the formulation of innovative “territorial management plans” based on their ancestral expertise and taking into account their socio-cultural and spiritual needs. This is not feasible if surrounding society makes no effort to defend and help restoring their degraded eco-systems. Needless to say, the defense and recovery of the vitality of these eco-systems is also a condition for the future of surrounding society itself.

Furthermore, the validity and enforcement of the laws that recognize, protect and safeguard indigenous peoples such as the Ayoreo, their ancestral resources and interests in general, must be ensured. ILO Covenant 169, which Paraguay ratified in 1993, is one of said safeguards.

The Ayoreo had a life culture with refined rules of coexistence with nature and an overarching knowledge which enabled the sustainable life of human beings as well as nature since time immemorial. Upon their dispossession and evacuation from their ancestral territories, the Ayoreo ethnic group has been subjected to abrupt changes in its existence and abandoned to abject poverty, confinement and marginalization. Retrieving the social and cultural wellbeing of the Ayoreo requires the retrieving of possession of their territories and of thus sovereignty over their lives and vital spaces, as well as an adequate approach to the problems caused by the years of deprivation and dependence.

Bibliography:

Bremen, Volker von: Los Ayoréode Cazados. In: Suplemento Antropológico Vol.22 No.1, Asunción, 1987, pp.75-94

Bremen, Volker von: Zwischen Anpassung und Aneignung. München, 1991
Fischermann, Bernardo: Las relaciones Hombre y Territorio entre los Ayoréode. In: El último Canto del Monte, Biblioteca Paraguaya de Antropología, Vol. 29, Asunción, 1998.

Fischermann, Bernardo: Una frontera frágil. Cultura y Natura entre los Ayoréode. In: El ultimo Canto del Monte, Biblioteca Paraguaya de Antropología, Vol. 29, Asunción, 1998.

Fischermann, Bernardo: La Cosmovisión de los Ayoréode del Chaco Boreal. (publication in process).