Who Are the Nambikwara?
The Nambikwara (also Nambiquara) are an indigenous people of western Mato Grosso and eastern Rondônia states in Brazil, inhabiting the transitional zone between cerrado savanna and Amazon forest. Numbering approximately 2,000-2,500 across multiple distinct groups, they speak languages of the Nambikwaran family—a linguistic isolate with no demonstrated relation to other language families. The Nambikwara were famously studied by Claude Lévi-Strauss in the 1930s, and his account in "Tristes Tropiques" brought them international recognition. Their traditional seminomadic lifestyle, egalitarian social organization, and adaptations to the harsh dry season environment distinguish them among Amazonian peoples.
Seasonal Adaptation
Traditional Nambikwara life was shaped by dramatic seasonal contrasts. During the wet season, communities practiced slash-and-burn horticulture, growing manioc, maize, and other crops in semi-permanent villages near gallery forests. When the dry season rendered gardens unproductive, bands dispersed across the cerrado, living nomadically as hunters and gatherers, subsisting on game, wild fruits, insects, and small animals. This seasonal mobility required minimal material culture—shelters were simple windbreaks; possessions were limited to what could be carried. Lévi-Strauss described dry-season camps as among the most materially simple human societies. This dual economy—farming and foraging—was a sophisticated adaptation to an environment with marked seasonal variation.
Writing Lesson
LĂ©vi-Strauss's famous "writing lesson" among the Nambikwara became a key text in debates about literacy and power. He described a chief imitating writing to impress followers, interpreting this as revealing writing's political function. Jacques Derrida later critiqued this account in "Of Grammatology," sparking prolonged philosophical debate. Beyond these academic controversies, the Nambikwara lived largely isolated until telegraph line construction and later highway development brought destructive contact in the 20th century. Population crashed from perhaps 10,000 to a few hundred due to epidemics and violence. Survivors were concentrated onto reserves, disrupting traditional seasonal movements.
Contemporary Nambikwara
Modern Nambikwara communities occupy fragmented territories, with different subgroups holding separate reserves. Traditional seminomadic patterns are largely impossible within reduced territories; most communities are now sedentary. Agriculture provides subsistence, supplemented by government assistance and limited market participation. Several Nambikwara languages are endangered; some groups have shifted to Portuguese. Cultural knowledge persists among elders, and some communities maintain ceremonial practices. Land pressures from surrounding farms and development projects continue. The Nambikwara case illustrates how contact, epidemic disease, and territorial reduction can devastate peoples whose adaptive strategies required extensive seasonal mobility. Recovery and cultural revitalization proceed slowly, constrained by demographic, territorial, and economic limitations.
References
- LĂ©vi-Strauss, C. (1955). Tristes Tropiques
- Price, D. (1989). Before the Bulldozer: The Nambiquara Indians and the World Bank
- Miller, J. (2007). The Things: A Story of the Nambiquara Indians