LONG LIVE THE BANIWA LIVING SCHOOL
Cristine Takuá
2 December 2024
Personal collection of Francy Baniwa
The Baniwa Living School arrived with the Long Live the Living School exhibition and, following the celebration and meeting we held in December 2023, together we were able to begin a new journey of strengthening and activation of knowledge and know-how.
The Baniwa collective is holding lots of classes on swiddens, arumã basketry, basketry with titica vine and imbé vine, drawings, pottery, blessings, songs, dances and indigenous literature. A very profound strength is blossoming in the Assunção do Içana community, located in the Upper Rio Negro Indigenous Territory, in the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira (Amazonas State).
Personal collection of Francy Baniwa
Francy and her father Francisco Baniwa are the coordinators of this dream and these actions activated in their territory. Francy is a connoisseur of the swidden, the river and the forest. She is also an anthropologist and has been bringing the strength and power of her people's philosophy to the world through academic dialogues.
She tells us that the announcement of support to encourage and strengthen a Living School in her community came with great celebration and enthusiasm from everyone – children, young people and elders.
“The wise ones spoke about the moment. Everyone was moved and remembered in so many words that we are a Living School. Our territory, our languages, the chants, sacred places, the swiddens, drylands, capoeiras, igapós, the communities, everything is a Living School, because we are knowledgeable, we are the living memory. From waking up until the end of the day, when it's time to rest, we do many things, which is why we are the Living School itself. Knowing the techniques of braiding with our fingertips is the most beautiful science there is.”
The dream of the Baniwa Living School began to blossom with the launch of the book Umbigo do Mundo [World’s Navel] – Mitologia, Ritual e Memória Baniwa Waliperedakeenai, published by Dantes. Since the launch, during the Vigil of Orality at the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, a new path has been opening up, as Francy herself says:
“I've reached this stage of bringing their words for you to know, to understand our world, how we are, and why we dance, why we heal, why we bless, why birds are the way they are, why human beings are the way they are.”
And in this dialogue with her father, together with the paintings of her brother Frank, she promotes a literary and anthropological event that deserves to be celebrated, as Idjahure Kadiwel says in the book's introduction.
Month after month, Francy tells us what is being done in her community, even though she is also activating many pathways in the city. She is studying and articulating many routes, whether in the São Paulo University chair, with indigenous women filmmakers or in her doctoral studies. Even so, she is always in communication with the teams that work directly at the Living School. Her main focus of inspiration is the children and young people – she is concerned with activating their deepest memories so that they can continue to follow in the footsteps of their saviours.
Personal collection of Francy Baniwa
“Being a child in the community, in the village, is different. Our greatest joy is when we get to the fields and come across different fruits. That's our greatest wealth. Smiles stretch far and wide! What a joy it is to be able to pick up a watermelon and eat it in the middle of the fields, while your grandmother, aunt and mother are taking care of the fields, weeding and looking after other fruits and maniocs.
The swidden is the place that brings me peace, happiness and security.
Being a swidden owner is a beautiful profession full of grit and determination.
Being a swidden owner is being a hard worker with a lot of sweat, under the rain and the sun.
Being a swidden owner means taking care of the swidden, weeding, uprooting manioc, carrying it on your back, scraping and grating it. It's not for everyone.
I'm very proud to be a swidden owner and a researcher, I'm a doctor of the swidden and of the university.
Good living
Living well
Eating organic watermelon straight from Mother Earth. Is there any greater love than that?”
Personal collection of Francy Baniwa