The Wariʼ, also known as the Pakaa Nova, are an indigenous people of Brazil, living in seven villages in the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondônia.
Along with the Torá, the Moré (or Itenes), and the Oro Win, the Wariʼ are the last of the Txapakura language linguistic group.
In the early 20th century, continuous incursions by neo-Brazilians in search of rubber trees forced the Wariʼ to relocate to the less accessible headwaters of the Mamoré River.
[1] The tribe is divided into subgroups, but there is no specific word to define an individual that belongs to a different group.
The Wariʼ recognize that individuals have multiple identities based on their specific relations and experiences.
They stay away from floodplains but remain closer to the shores of small perennial rivers.
Aparecida Vilaça, professor of Social Anthropology at the National Museum, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro discusses the Amazonian concept of the body by drawing upon ethnographic research of the Wari’.
[4] In the native language, Txapuakrua, kwere- is the closest word to the body and must be used in conjunction with a possessive suffix (his, her, its).
Vilaça asserts that this human/non-human parallel suggests a relationship to a “wider cosmological process.”[4] The concept of the ontological turn is often used in regard to Wari' beliefs because the Wari’ interpretations of body and soul are so vastly unfamiliar to cultures that operate under the distinction of the divide between culture and nature into a dichotomy, which calls into question if all human viewpoints are comparable or perhaps even mutually intelligible.
Wari’ means “we, people, human beings,” and is defined in opposition to game animals.
In order for the Wari’ to consider someone a human being, they must have the quality of jamixi’ or the ability to transform into different bodies and perspectives.
The body would be left for about three days, although there was no set span, and depended largely upon how soon family members in other settlements could get to the funeral.
Mortuary preparation involved ritual wailing and other ceremonies, building a fire, removing the visceral organs, and finally roasting the body.
[3] The decedent's closest kin would not consume the body, but they urged the attendant relatives to eat.
[7][3] The relatives were encouraged to eat what they could, but this sometimes amounted to little more than small tokens of the spoiled meat.
Those bodies would be served to the women and younger men who had stayed home in order to strengthen the group.
[citation needed] Pacification in this context is between the Wari' people and the rest of the connected world.
[9][5] As a result, the Serviço de Proteção ao Índio (SPI) began to attempt contacting the Wari' people.
Disease outbreaks and war over land from outsiders caused the population of the Wari' to reduce by nearly 50%.
[9] At the time, the Wari' had just begun to relocate themselves due to extreme rubber tree farming.
[9][5] As a result, the Wari' turned to the Serviço de Proteção ao Índio and missionaries for assistance.
The Serviço de Proteção ao Índio intentionally set up posts in order to meet and assist the Wari'.
Due to the aforementioned disease outbreaks and rubber tappers, the Wari' eventually settled near these posts.
Missionaries changed the perspective of many Wari' to see all humans as brothers and animals as objects.
[5] After 9/11, which the Wari' were able to witness on TV, many converted back to Christianity believing that this was a sign of the end of the world.
The Wari' were forced to work full time on large plantations and in other enterprises in order to receive assistance and teachings.