Auca Auca The Huaorani, also known as Waorani, Waodani, or Auca (Quechua for "savage"), are an indigenous tribe of the Ecuadorian Oriente (in the Amazon region). The tribe's ancestral lands are currently threatened by oil exploration and illegal logging practices. These homelands are located between the Curaray and Napo rivers, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Dureno. These lands are approximately 120 miles (190 km) wide and 75 to 100 miles (120 to 160 km) from north to south. The Huaorani have guarded their lands from both indigenous foes and outsider colonials (referred to as cowode, literally "nonhuman cannibals").

The Huaorani speak a language isolate and comprise approximately 2,000 people. Two communities, the Tagaeri and the Taromenane, have rejected all contact with non-Huaorani, and continuously move into more isolated areas, generally in the direction of the Peruvian border.

Subdivision

The Huaorani are subdivided into the following groups: Toñampare, Quenahueno, Tihueno, Quihuaro, Damuintaro, Zapino, Tigüino, Huamuno, Dayuno, Quehueruno, Garzacocha (río Yasuní), Quemperi (río Cononaco) Mima, Caruhue (río Cononaco) and Tagaeri.

Recent history

Around the time of World War II, there was a great increase of inter-clan killings, resulting in the deaths of as many as 60% of the Huaorani. These killings were apparently revenge for a number of deaths that most likely resulted from the introduction of outside diseases. In 1956, a group of five American missionaries from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), led by Jim Elliot and pilot Nate Saint, made contact with the Huaorani, but were all killed. Nate Saint's sister, Rachel Saint, amidst these killings, befriended a Huaorani woman named Dayuma, most of whose clan had been killed in the inter-clan battles. The pair began to evangelize, which greatly helped stop the revenge killings, but unfortunately led to increased oil scouting in the area. Many of the Huaorani were then concentrated into a protectorate under the responsibility of the SIL.

Once the Huaorani schools were brought under the control of SIL missionaries, there was an attempt made to replace the "Satan-inspired" folk tradition with the practices of Christianity. There was also an attempt made to convert to farming in order to provide an agro-export, thus "contribut[ing] to the national good". Teachers, most of whom were of the neighboring Quichua, taught that going into the forest was uncivilized, and also taught of European replacements for many of the Huaorani goods and plants. New systems of government (such as authoritarianism) were also introduced, and schools tended to contain many instances of both physical and sexual abuse by teachers.

Acting on the advice of anthropologist James Yost, SIL eventually demanded that Saint leave the Huaorani due to her excessive interference with their culture. Rather than follow these instructions, Saint rather left SIL, maintaining her relationship with the Ecuadorian government and the related oil companies. As a result, the 60 mile (100 km) Vía Auca (commonly known as "Aucas" or "Savages") has seen the rise of oil exploration and settlers.

An interesting point of Huaorani culture is that women remove all their body hair. For this purpose first they rub ashes on their bodies in the area they don't want hair and then they pull the hair with no pain.

Indigenist political reorganization

Prior to 1989, the Huaorani were very divided and politically unorganized. The two settlements were Rachel Saint's (the Toñampare) and Dayuno's, which was also under missionary influence. There were also a number of traditional clans and the Tagaeri. Though the Huaorani were surviving and healthy, their society was controlled almost entirely by missionaries, and there was no fair voice to connect to the outside world with.

In 1989, some of the Huaorani attempted to regroup. A group consisting of over sixty, led by a man named Ñame, left Dayuno and travelled to the Shiripuno River, where they founded the community of Quehueire Ono. The main intention of this settlement was to throw off missionary control and return to the old Huaorani culture, though not without giving up some of the more modern tools. A school was begun in the settlement in 1990, thanks to funding from the Napo Provincial Government. By 1993, Quehueire Ono was the second-largest Huaorani community, with approximately 223 members.

In March of 1990, an organization called ONHAE (The Organization of the Huaorani Nation of the Ecuadorian Amazon) was founded. This was with the assistance of CONFENIAE (The Oriente Indigenous Confederation), of which ONHAE later became a member. The main purpose of ONHAE was to avoid the creation of a hierachy within the Huaorani society. Also thanks to CONFENIAE, the Huaorani were given legal ownership of over 2,600 square miles (6700 km²) of land, approximately one third of the traditonal lands. ONHAE currently operated by holding consensus-based assemblies and congresses drawn from across the contacted Huaorani communities.

Land rights

In 1990, the Huaorani won the rights to an indigenous reserve covering some 6,125.60 square kilometres, thus enabling a semi-autonomous existence. However, this title does not extend to subsoil minerals including extensive oil deposits. The Ecuadorian government has proceeded to license the petroleum drilling rights in the region to multinational oil corporations. The protected status of Yasuní National Park, which overlaps with the Huaorani reserve provides some measure of environmental protection.

Auca