There is a pronunciation variant in some areas of Bolivia, [wikˠiʡ], where the group refers to themselves as Weenhayek wichi, translated by Alvarsson (1988) as "the different people" (pl.

According to Najlis (1968) and Gordon (2005), three main dialects can be distinguished in the Wichí group: southwestern or Vejós (Wehwós), northeastern or Güisnay (Weenhayek) and northwestern or Nocten (Oktenay).

The Anglican Diocese of Northern Argentina has advocated on behalf of the Wichí people for over a century, mediating between the local governments of Formosa and Salta to try and secure the land rights of indigenous populations.

According to Father Alejandro Corrado, a Franciscan of Tarija, the Wichí were nomadic; their houses were light structures scattered in the jungle.

Corrado claims the Wichí lived chiefly upon fish and algarroba, that is, the fruit of the local algarrobo tree (usually identified with Prosopis alba or South American mesquite), as well as honey-locust, but "they ate anything that was not poisonous, even rats and grasshoppers".

He claimed that there was a division of tasks, the men occupying themselves with fishing or occasional hunting with bow or club, and the women doing practically all the other work.

[8] The Pentecostal Church of Sweden started working within the Wichí community in the early parts of the last century, which resulted in the Christian majority in Weenhayek populations.

A study conducted in 1998 by a graduate student from Clark University, Worcester, MA based on satellite photo surveys showed that between 1984 and 1996, 20% of the forest has been lost.

The Wichí were affected by the recession that lasted from 1999 to 2002, however, their economic self-sufficiency, their physical isolation, and the lack of recognition on the part of the authorities diminished the impact of the crisis, which was limited to inflation in the price of certain goods they cannot produce (such as sugar and red meat, replaceable by wild honey and fish) and to problems with the supply of medicines and healthcare.

For many years, the Wichí have been struggling to get legal titles to the land they historically owned, which has been constantly seized and fenced by non-indigenous cattlers and farmers.

At the beginning of 2004, the government of Salta decided to lift the protected status of the General Pizarro Natural Reserve, an area of 250 km2 in the Anta Department inhabited by about 100 Wichí, and to sell part of the land to two private companies, Everest SA and Initium Aferro SA, to be deforested and replaced with a soybean farm.

After months of complaints, legal struggle, and a campaign sponsored by Greenpeace, on 29 September 2005 (after an exposure in a popular TV show) a group of Argentine artists, actors, musicians, models, environmental groups, and Wichí representatives arranged a hearing with Chief of Cabinet Alberto Fernández, Director of the National Parks Administration Héctor Espina, and President Néstor Kirchner himself.

In a lot of cases, this means that the indigenous communities lose their land to agribusinesses and suffer under the intense use of fertilizers and pesticides, which poison the water they depend on.

Wichí society is matrilocal, i.e., people belong to their mothers' clans; upon marriage, men move to their wives' villages.

Individuals and families of some of the neighboring peoples like the Iyojwaja (Chorote), Nivaklé, Qomlek (Toba) and Tapy'y (Tapieté) often live amongst the Wichí, sometimes marrying into their society.

They build small mud houses with roofs made of leaves and branches, well adapted to the high temperatures of summer that can reach 50 °C (120 °F).

During the dry season (winter) they depend on fishing in the Bermejo and Pilcomayo rivers, and cultivate corn, pumpkins, beans and watermelons during summer.