The Machiguengas Analysis

Another set of Westerners persecute the indigenous tribes by torturing them and making them suffer. The profiteers from the West plunder the Amazonian land for rubber, wood, gold and other resources. Their relentless invasion into the jungle is driving the Machiguengas off their traditional land. The tribal people are also exploited and made to work under inhuman conditions in the process of rubber production and mining. The final act of atrocity is that the tribal people are turned against one another. The exploitative Westerner offers the tribes freedom if they are able to capture and bring in other people as replacement for them. This results in the complete destruction of the tribes and their lifestyle. The Machiguengas or “the people

He tells stories of their family relationships, their way of life and the lessons they have learned from the environment and animals that surround them. In addition, the storyteller relates his own experiences. As a storyteller he has found his destiny. He refers to his hideous birthmark which made him an outcast in the civilized world. However he finds acceptance among the Machiguengas. This strongly suggests that the storyteller is Saul Zuratas. Saul has fully immersed himself into the tribe's culture leaving behind the Western world. He has transformed from a modern man into the storyteller of the Machiguenga tribe who have not been

As a culturally distinct people the Machiguengas are diminishing. For the Machiguengas, exposure to modernization and globalization has not been favourable. The change and progress of the modern world, has the impact of destroying them culturally, though materially they might be better off. The impact of Westernization and modernization on the Machiguengas is destructive, and they begin to lose their tradition and culture, which is closely bound to their identity as a distinct people. The destruction of their culture and practices, leads to the loss of the cultural identity of the Machiguengas. However the only glimmer of hope is that in response to these terrors, the Machiguengas will “walk” away from them into the diminishing forests of the