Huaorani

:This article is about the Auca Indians. For the Ecuadorian soccer team named after the Aucas, see Sociedad Deportiva Aucas.

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.

Related Topics:
World War II - Disease - American - Missionaries - Summer Institute of Linguistics - Jim Elliot - Nate Saint - Rachel Saint - Evangelize - Protectorate

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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 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.

Related Topics:
Satan-inspired - Christianity - Farming - Quichua - Authoritarianism - Physical - Sexual - Abuse

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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.

Related Topics:
Anthropologist - Ecuador

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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

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hair and then they pull the hair with no pain.

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