Machiguenga

The Machiguenga (also Matsigenka, Matsigenga) are an indigenous people who live in the high jungle, or ''montaña'', area on the eastern slopes of the Andes and in the Amazon Basin jungle regions of southeastern Peru. Their population in 2020 amounted to about 18,000. Formerly they were hunter-gatherers but today the majority are sedentary swidden cultivators. The main crops grown are manioc, maize, and bananas, but today commercial crops such as coffee and cacao are increasingly important. Their main source of protein used to be peccary and monkeys but today fish has become more important as game animals have become increasingly scarce as a consequence of the encroachment from highland immigrants to the area and the exploitation of the Camisea gas finds. The Machiguenga people have a preference for self-sufficiency when it comes to cultivating essential crops, made possible by their generous land allocation per capita, and the lack of conflict in their area.

Culture

Most Machiguenga do not have personal names. Members of the same band are identified by kin terminology, while members of a different band or tribe are referred to by their Spanish names.

Most Machiguenga are today Christian (mainly Catholic) but commonly they still entertain animist notions. Spirits and demons influence everyday life whereas the creator gods have withdrawn and are indifferent to humans. Shamans used to play a prominent role in local society, today though they are less visible and certain of their functions have been taken over by healers.

While quite accomplished in using plants and herbs as medicine, the Machiguenga are susceptible to new infectious diseases brought in from the outside world. In many communities they have, however, been spared from COVID-19. The Machiguenga used to wear a handwoven and homemade cotton tunic made by women, in local Spanish called a ''cushmas'', designed with a V neck for men, and straight neck for women. They fashion huts using palm tree poles as a frame, with palm leaves thatched for the roof. Literacy rates for settled groups range from 30% to 60%. Each extended family group is governed by a self-appointed "headman".

Family life

Formerly women married around the age of 16, while today they commonly enter into family relations some years later. Women have an average of eight to ten pregnancies. As with many indigenous tribes, the mortality rate for infants is high. During the first year(s) of marriage the relation is often unstable and separation is common. The Machiguenga are uxorilocal, which means that the man moves to his wife who usually still lives with her parents. During the early time of their relation they prepare their own garden and they build their own house not far from the woman's parents. This means that the relations between mothers and daughters are strong while the position of inmarrying men, who come from other family constellations, may be experienced as vulnerable.Rosengren, Dan (2017). "Marriage Matsigenka Style: SOme Critical Reflections of Marriage Practices", pp. 15-35, in Valentine, P., S. Beckerman, and C. Alès "The Anthropology of Marriage in Lowland South America. niversity Press of Florida Formerly, prominent men had multiple wives.

Language

The Machiguenga language belongs to the Campa group of Machi puceran Maipurean (Arawakan) language family, which is spoken by approximately 12,000 people in Peru. There are several dialects of Machiguenga: the Machiguenga of the Upper Urubamba, that of the Lower Urubamba, that of the Manu area Machiguenga proper and what some refer to as Nanti and consider as a proper language but which Machiguenga people see as a variety of Machiguenga.

See also

* Antisuyu
* Ashaninka
* Harakmbut
* Shipibo
* Yanesha

Notes

The incorrect spelling form "Machigenga" was created as a neologism by the BBC show '' Living with the Machigenga'' aired in 2009 and 2010 which is strongly criticized i
''Anthropology News, May 2011''
see als
''TV series about Amazonian tribe accused of faking scenes''

References

Rosegren, D. 2004. 'Los Matsigenka', in Guía Etnográfica de la Alta Amazonía, in Guía Etnográfica de la Alta Amazonía pp. 1–157, ed. by Santos-Granero, F. and F. Barclay. Balboa: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and Lima: Instituto Frances de Estudios Andinos.
Rosengren, D. 2017. 'Marriage Matsigenka Style: Some Critical Reflections of Marriage Practices', pp. 15–35, in Valentine, P., S. Beckerman, and C. Alès "The Anthropology of Marriage in Lowland South America. niversity Press of Florida

Further reading

* '' The Storyteller'' (1987), novel by Mario Vargas Llosa that includes recounting of Machiguenga cosmology.
* Baksh, M. (1990) ''Time Allocation among the Machiguenga of Camana (Peru)''. New Haven, CT: HRAF Press.
* Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian Languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. .
* Deyermenjian, G. (1988) ''Land Rights, Cultural Survival and Innovation among Indigenous Peoples of the Western Amazon Basin: The Case of the Machiguenga.'' Master's Thesis, Clark University, International Development Dept.
* Henrich J et al. (2005) " 'Economic man' in cross-cultural perspective: Behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies", ''Behavioral and Brain Sciences'' 28:795-+
* Ohl, J. 2004. ''The economy of the Matsigenka – ecotourism as a chance for sustainable development?'', Ph.D. thesis, University of Greifswald, Greifswald.
* Ohl, J. 2004, El eco-turismo como opportunidad para un desarrollo sostenible? Eschborn, Germany, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH.
* Ohl, J., A. Wezel, G. H. Shepard Jr., and D. W. Yu. 2007. "Swidden agriculture in a human-inhabited protected area: The Matsigenka native communities of Manu National Park, Peru," in ''Environment, Development, and Sustainability''
* Ohl-Schacherer, J., G. H. Shepard Jr., H. Kaplan, C. A. Peres, T. Levi, and D. W. Yu. 2007. "The sustainability of subsistence hunting by Matsigenka native communities in Manu National Park, Peru", ''Conservation Biology'' 21:1174–1185.
* Ohl-Schacherer, J., E. Mannigel, C. Kirkby, G. H. Shepard Jr, and D. W. Yu. 2008. "Indigenous ecotourism in the Amazon: A case study of "Casa Matsiguenka" in Manu National Park, Peru", ''Environmental Conservation''.
* Solís Fonseca, Gustavo. (2003). ''Lenguas en la amazonía peruana'', Lima: edición por demanda.
* Pancorbo, Luis: ''Río de América'', Laertes. Barcelona, 2003.
* Shepard GH (1997) "Noun classification and ethnozoological classification in Machiguenga, an Arawakan language of the Peruvian Amazon", ''The Journal of Amazonian Languages'' 1:20–57
* Shepard G (1997) "Monkey hunting with the Machiguenga: medicine, magic, ecology and mythology", paper presented at the American Anthropological Association Meetings
* Shepard GH (1998) "Psychoactive plants and ethnopsychiatric medicines of the Matsigenka", ''Journal of Psychoactive Drugs'' 30:321-332
* Shepard GH (1999) "Resource use and ecology of the Matsigenka of the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Vilcabamba", In: Schulenberg TS (ed) ''A Rapid Biological Assessment of the Northern Cordillera Vilcabamba, Peru,'' vol RAP Working Papers No. 11. Conservation International, Washington, DC
* Shepard GH (1999) Pharmacognosy and the Senses in two Amazonian Societies. In: Department of Anthropology. University of California, Berkeley
* Shepard GH (1999) "Shamanism and diversity: A Matsigenka perspective", In: Posey DA (ed) ''Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity,'' vol U.N.E.P. Global Biodiversity Assessment, Vol 2. United Nations Environmental Programme and Intermediate Technology Publications, London, pp 93–95
* Shepard GH, Rummenhoeller K (2000) "Paraiso para quem? Populções indígenas e o Parque Nacional do Manu (Peru)". In: XXII Reunião Brasileira de Antropologia. Fórum de Pesquisa 3: "Conflitos Socioambientais e Unidades de Conservação", Brasília, Brasil
* Shepard GH, Yu DW, Lizarralde M, Italiano M (2001) "Rain forest habitat classification among the Matsigenka of the Peruvian Amazon", ''Journal of Ethnobiology'' 21:1–38
* Shepard GH, Yu DW (2001) "Verificación etnobotánica de imágenes de satélite: La intersección de conocimientos tradicionales y cientifícos", ''Debate Agrario'' 33:19–24
* Shepard GH, Chicchón A (2001) "Resource use and ecology of the Matsigenka of the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Vilcabamba", In: Alonso LEea (ed) ''Social and Biological Assessments of the Cordillera de Vilcabamba, Peru''. Conservation International, Washington, DC, pp 164–174
* Shepard GH (2002) Primates in Matsigenka subsistence and worldview. In: Fuentes A, Wolfe L (eds) Primates face to face. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 101–136
* Shepard GH, Yu DW (2002) "Vanishing Cultures" (Comment). ''New York Review of Books'' 50:92
* Shepard GH, Yu DW, Nelson B, Lizarralde M, Italiano M (2004) "Ethnobotanical Ground-Truthing and Forest Diversity in the Western Amazon", In: Maffi L, Carlson T, López-Zent E (eds) ''Ethnobotany and conservation of biocultural diversity'', New York Botanical Gardens (Advances in Economic Botany), New York
* Shepard GH (August 1998.) "Uncontacted native groups and petrochemical exploration in the Peruvian Amazon", In: ''International Society for Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (ICAES) Conference'', Williamsburg, VA
* Shepard GH, Rummenhoeller K, Ohl J, Yu DW (in press) "Trouble in paradise: indigenous populations, anthropological policies, and biodiversity conservation in Manu National Park, Peru", ''Journal of Sustainable Forestry''
* Yu DW, Shepard GH (1998) "Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?", ''Nature'' 396:321-322
* Yu DW, Shepard GH (1999) "The mystery of female beauty", ''Nature'' 399:216
* Yu DW, Proulx SM, Shepard GH (2008) "Masculinity, marriage, and the paradox of the lek", In: Swami V, Furnham A (eds) ''The Body Beautiful'', Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp 88–107

External links

Machiguenga at Native Planet
Living With the Machigenga
Outdated link, date=July 2012 -->






at the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Machiguenga People
Indigenous peoples in Peru
Indigenous peoples of the Amazon
Hunter-gatherers of South America