Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

Many labour emigrants spend several years out of the region working, eventually
returning to settle and raise a family in their home village and resuming a lifestyle
largely based upon traditional subsistence activities. In other cases the emigration is
permanent, young people or entire families relocating entirely in favour of the greater
economic opportunities available elsewhere. Many families have extensive cross-
border connections, in particular when young adults with children leave the children in
the care of their grandparents while they are working in Brazil. However, only a single
household participating in surveys conducted in the present study reported the
provision of money by relatives working outside the village to be a source of income.
In Maruranau, as is typical in the villages of the South Rupununi, people are
severely materially disadvantaged by the low level of basic services, especially health
and education, and the low cash flow locally. Although the cash economy is an
important part of modern life, certain shop-bought goods having become essential,
means by which people can earn money are very limited. Labour migration is a
common response to this, and often results in social disruption and the break-up of
families via the absence of one or both parents or the emigration of young people out
of their home area (ARU 1993: 103-4, 110-111). Some people expressed their
concerns to me that this could result in cultural degradation and loss of self-
sufficiency, as young people failed to acquire basic subsistence skills.
Within the South Rupununi, whether through choice or lack of alternative,
subsistence activities are dominant in most people’s lives. The possible changes with
which the first section of this chapter was concerned have major implications for this.
On the one hand, initiatives that may improve the local economic situation and
provide means of generating income locally would be welcomed in most quarters. One
the other hand, people in the area generally gave me the impression of being more
concerned with the possible threats these changes may hold for their existing
livelihoods.
3.3 Local Perspectives on changing circumstances
3.3.1 Indigenous land claims in the South Rupununi
It appears that the people of the South Rupununi have long been aware that their
continued existence as a culturally distinct people would one day come under threat.
The most vivid demonstration of this is their long-standing claim to areas of land far
beyond the present boundaries of their titles, dating back to the time of the
Amerindian Lands Commission. Officials of the commission were somewhat taken
aback when toushaos of the six Deep South Villages each submitted an identical