Kaxinawá people

Kaxinawá
Huni Kuin

Kaxinawá village in Acre
Total population
9954[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Brazil (Acre)
 Brazil 7,535 (2010)[1]
 Peru 2,419 (2007)[1]
Languages
Kaxinawá[2]
Religion
traditional tribal religion
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kaxinawá people.

The Kaxinawá people (Huni Kuin) are an indigenous people of Brazil and Peru. Their villages are located along the Purus and Curanja Rivers in Peru and the Tarauacá, Jordão, Breu, Muru, Envira, Humaitã, and Purus Rivers.[3]

In the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, some Kaxinawá live on the Alto Purús Indigenous Territory with the Kulina people.[3]

Name

The Kaxinawá are also known as the Cashinauá, Caxinauá, or Kashinawa people. This name come from kaxi or "bat" and nawa meaning "people" or "foreigners". Their autonym is Huni Kuin or "real men", from huni, "man", and kuin meaning "real." [4]

Language

Kaxinawá people speak the Kaxinawá language, a Panoan language.[2] They call their language Hancha Kuin, meaning "real words."[4] Only 5% to 10% of the Kaxinawá in Peru speak Spanish and literacy rates are low.[2]

Economy

Hunting is of paramount importance in Kaxinawá society. Kaxinawá also fish, gather plant foods, and grow crops through swidden, or slash-and-burn horticulture. Rice has become an export crop.[5]

Women weave baskets, string bead jewelry, create utilitarian ceramics and weave hammocks and clothing. Men weave certain baskets, carve tools from wood, create featherwork and ceremonial regalia, and make canoes and weapons, such as clubs, spears, and bows and arrows. In hunting, shotguns are popular.[5]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Kaxinawá: Introduction." Povos Indígenas no Brasil. Retrieved 8 Dec 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 "Kashinawa." Ethnologue. Retrieved 8 Dec 2011.
  3. 1 2 "Kaxinawá: Location." Povos Indígenas no Brasil. Retrieved 8 Dec 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Orientation - Kashinawa." Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved 8 Dec 2011.
  5. 1 2 "Economy - Kashinawa." Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved 8 Dec 2011.
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