Amazonian Indigenous Lives

“ There is a great risk of losing whole languages. We have languages with few speakers. We have people who were forced to speak the language of other people and only the elderly who can recover their identity. Many people are the last speakers. Sônia Guajajara | Leader of Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil)

Col laborat ive design The project has been created wi th, rather than for the indigenous communi ty, designed in col laborat ion wi th the Ashaninka people and Ai l ton Krenak, a wel l-known indigenous leader. In addi t ion to the training and recording of memor ies, the project also aims to record, disseminate and preserve other aspects of indigenous cul ture and tradi t ions—such as how to record and preserve medicinal plants, r i tuals and/or other speci f ic knowledge. What is recorded and included is ent i rely up to the communi t ies, enabl ing them to construct thei r own nar rat ive, ensur ing f reedom and authent ici ty.

Global inf luence To raise awareness of the r isk to these communi t ies and encourage more ini t iat ives to suppor t preservat ion and conservat ion, 50 indigenous leaders wi l l be par t of a Brazi l ian Forum of Indigenous Memor ies. Ten of these leaders wi l l also travel to Norway to par t icipate in a internat ional conference in Oslo wi th pol i t ical and business leaders, shar ing learnings f rom the project and discussing the envi ronment f rom thei r own perspect ive. Fol lowing this event , they wi l l travel to Svalbard to personal ly deposi t the recorded memor ies in the Arct ic Wor ld Archive. By preserving and shar ing indigenous cul tures, we help the wor ld remember a r icher history and contr ibute to a more vibrant future.