Globalization and Change- Change in the lives of the Brazilian Indigenous People
The Brazilian indigenous people was developed on the foundation of a mixed economy that consisted of hunting, gathering, fishing and horticulture, and the practice of garden cultivation. The Brazilian Indigenous people harvested foods such as corn, yams, sweet potatoes, and manioc. Due to the fact that the Brazilian indigenous culture relied heavily on their hunting and gathering lifestyle, as well as horticulture, they needed an assurance of an abundance of land and natural resources. They gathered foods such as seeds, fruits, and edible roots of their region when they were in season. Horticulture, along with hunting and gathering was an unreliable way of living. Because there was also the issue of unexpected raids where men, women, and children were being killed, the unreliability of hunting and gathering and horticulture was even greater. The best way to assure that they would have enough food amongst all of the population stability was to share within the different tribes.
The concept of sharing was instilled in the culture of the Brazilian indigenous people. They would share things such as food, possessions, sex, even their identity. The Brazilian people emphasized the importance of the wellbeing of the tribe over the wellbeing of one single individual.
The culture began to undergo change in the early 1800’s due to the arrival of Portuguese settlers and farmers in Canela. During the arrival of settlers in Canela, the tribes lost 95 percent of their Canela land and territory. The Canela people were pressured to adjust and forced to understand the customs and normal tendencies of Brazilians. For example, their houses started to transition from the oval palm-thatch huts with pointed tops that resembled tepees of the American Plains Indians to squared thatched houses that were common of Brazilian settlers. Many children and adults were now living in Brazilian towns. Their traditional lifestyle of hunting and gathering and small scale farming, transitioned to intensive agriculture on large farmlands.
A government organization known as FUNAI was now in control of the economy, while another government organization by the name of, FUNASA, provided medical services to the Brazilian indigenous people. They began to believe that Brazilian education will improve economic conditions and solve cultural problems. Education was now seen as important for their future survival. The influence of the new Portuguese power put greater attention towards the educate systems within Brazil. They believed that education and knowledge was what help make their region as successful as possible. With all these improvements of the tribes and their culture there was negative aspects of the settlers arrival as well. For example after they arrived, there was an increase in inequality through the accumulation of wealth due to the employments in the Indian Service and the Indian Service replaced traditional leadership.
This represent globalization because the Portuguese settled throughout these tribes and caused colonial expansion throughout the region, forcing the Brazilian indigenous people to adapt their social customs and norms, abandoning many of their tribal traditions. This also caused a flow of cultural interaction. The Brazilian indigenous people began to connect, engage, and interact with groups outside of their own tribes. The Brazilian indigenous people began to change the way they dressed themselves and began to clothe themselves in a more westernized wardrobe and cut their hair in the style of westerners. The settling of the Portuguese caused the Brazilian indigenous people to change and globalize. Without the Portuguese settlers, Brazil may not have been given the motivation to make the necessary changes and corrections that the nation needed. Their culture relied on a way of life that was unreliable and inconsistent. Their traditional lifestyle of hunting and gathering left then stagnant and unable to grow and develop. Their hunter and gathering, and horticulture techniques lack stability and security. Although there were hardships of the Portuguese settlers coming into power that the Brazilian indigenous people had to endure such as the increasing rates of inequality due to wealth and the lack of sharing of operations throughout the tribes, the settlers exposed the Brazilian indigenous people to a lifestyle more fitting of our time. This lifestyle gave them the ability to interact with the world outside of their tribe and become more in contact with their surrounding regions. They were able to learn adopt customs of their neighboring regions and evolve to their modern styles and ways of presentation.