Page 40 - UD Research Magazine Vol5-No1

Mateo Viaeja, an Ese’ Eja elder, wears traditional cloth made out of the bark of the yanchama tree. “We are the ancient owners of this land because we were the first to come down from the sky," Viaeja told the UD team. According to their beliefs, the Ese’ Eja climbed down to Earth from a cotton thread in the sky. "Without the forest, there is no life... and no Ese’Eja," he said.
In addition to the photo and video documentation and the work of the education team, others on the expedition focused on tasks involving anthropology, ethnobotany and creating a physical map of the community’s ancestral lands.
Carla Guerrón Montero, associate professor of anthro- pology at UD, and student Chelsea Rozanski focused on understanding the subsistence strategies of the Ese’Eja, ac- companying them on foraging expeditions and interviewing
them about their daily activities. They also recorded stories told by the elders and assisted them in creating maps that showed their traditional lands—many of which the government has now prohibited them from accessing—and sacred sites, including burial grounds.
The anthropology team was assisted by the other members of the group, who all spent some time talking with com- munity residents to learn about their traditions, activities and hopes for the future.
Griffiths, who says he ini- tially expected to spend all his time in the forest, ended up also visiting homes, asking questions and recording the answers. He says he realized that people, understandably, don’t neces- sarily consider their common objects and everyday chores to be of any interest to outsiders, so he learned to ask, “What’s the oldest thing in your house? Where did you get it? Can you show me how you use it?”
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Amazonian Peru:
The main lookout over the Madre de Dios River at Palma Real, an Ese’Eja community of more than 300 people.
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The Threat of Loss:
Carlos Dejaviso Poje, president of the Ese’Eja Nation, said, “It would be a cul- tural genocide if we lost our customs and we didn’t know how to value what our ancestors valued.”
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Indigenous Ways:
The Ese’Eja use a vine called tamshi
to weave baskets for use at home and for sale. The vines are stripped of their bark and then split into long, flexible pieces for weaving.
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Origin of the Ese'Eja:
As this drawing by Fermin Yojaje shows, the Ese’Eja believe their people climbed down to Earth from a cotton thread in the sky. Elders can pinpoint the exact spot in the forest.
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Pinpointing Loca- tions: Anthropolo- gist Carla Guerrón Montero (right) and student Chelsea Rozanski use GPS to record culturally important sites.
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A Culture Captured:
UD’s Rosalie Rolón Dow works with the Ese’Eja to create a 10-foot-long map of traditional hunting and fishing sites.
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Mapping Ancestral Lands: During the 2014 expedition, the UD team worked with Ese'Eja elders to draw maps of their ancestral lands from memory.