The Matses Tribe

The Matses Tribe

    Indigenous people have a very interesting and mysterious culture. In the Amazon Rainforest, alongside the Javari River, rests the village of the Matses Tribe.

    This tribe --like any other indigenous tribes-- depends only on the place they live. Fishing, hunting and their unique ‘slash and burn’  approach to farming are their sources of food. Being semi-nomadic, the Matses Tribe moved around the vast are of the Amazon Rainforest.

    With the influence of the outside world, for the past 30 years, the Matses Tribe has been undergoing drastic changes. They started to rely on the clothes from the outside and now entered the cash economy. They have been exhausting the rainforest by logging and the land has become unstable for farming because of the concentrated ‘slash and burn’ approach. And yes, they permanently stayed beside the Javari River. Consequently, negative effects are starting to bloom.

    While all of this is happening, the younger generation of the Matses are neglecting their own culture. They choose not to practice their traditions but rather embrace the english culture. Although negative effects are slowly but surely blooming, positive effects are also there. With their current involvement in the cash economy, they can now have access to modern medicine, education and can find better jobs.

    Indigenous tribes nowadays are slowly giving in to the modern world. Some are even forgetting their own cultures and traditions. Ancient ways of living should be preserved and nurtured for everyone to see how far humans reached. But of course, we need to adjust to the ever changing world. Are the indigenous tribes making the right choice to embrace the modern world? Will they still practice their own ways when they do so? We may never know.