Strengthening the relationships in the macro-territory of the low Caquetá River region: Articulating generations through oral traditions and art
This project promotes the inter-generational transmission of knowledge and the exploration of the sense of belonging to the territory and the local culture through artistic projects proposed by the young indigenous men and women living in the AIPEA (Association of Indigenous Authorities of Pedrera, Amazonas) region.
The Yuruparí as many other ancestral rituals has been an important vehicle to strengthen the roots of indigenous communities to their territory and culture. Such rituals tend to follow very ancient cultural parameters. However, some communities are no longer organizing these ceremonies mainly because the restrictions they imply have become hard to follow today (diets, isolation, physical demands, sexual restrictions). In consequence, new generations are reinterpreting their way of belonging to the territory and expressing the impact of migration processes, economic and cultural tensions and psychosocial problems, among other conditions.
In order to strengthen the sense of belonging to the territory and the cultural roots of young people in the low Caquetá River area, this project impulses scenarios for the transmission of traditional knowledge and a platform for the exploration and expression of young indigenous men and women through the contemporary and traditional artistic practices.
The project contemplates the following actions:
- 1. Open call: Art, culture and territory
This open call promotes an inter-generational dialogue and the exploration of traditional knowledge, mainly the ancestral wisdom related to territory management, through art projects proposed by young indigenous men and women. We invite young people to collectively propose a project that implies the exploration of the cultural and vital relationship they have with their territory. A selection of these proposals will receive a small grant and will be accompanied by a tutor that will provide artistic and pedagogical tools.
- 2. Dialogue of knowledge among generations
We promote a series of meetings between elders and young people to strengthen the transmission of knowledge about traditional rituals, the meaning of the maloca (traditional community house) and all the knowledge related to the management of the macro-territory.
- 3. Cultural maps of the low Caquetá River region
The project develops a research about the traditional macro-territory ordering from the perspective of local traditional authorities and with a special attention to the cultural importance of Chiribiquete.
A project by Nia Tero and Tropenbos Colombia