Trapped Between Two Worlds

The Guarani people have been interacting with the outside world for hundreds of years. For many of these years, the Guarani people and the people outside their tribe traded ideas and goods freely. The Guarani people were able to find goods and food in the vast forests. They could use these goods to trade for other items they may need like tools.

However, after years of good interactions, the native people are losing their land to outside groups. The forests that they depend on are being destroyed at an alarming rate. The people are shoved onto small reservations. These reservations directly conflict with the Guarani ideas of community. The native people prefer to live in homes that have only the immediate family and possibly an elderly parent. When the people are placed on small reservations, they are not given the space they had grown up living with.

Since the Guarani people are losing their land, how are they going to survive? Is the government helping them? In the short video, a shaman pleads for help for his people.

The standard organization of the Guarani people is changing. Many native people across the world, however this group has been able to interact with outside people for years. Now, unfortunately, the interactions are less friendly.