This section contains testimonies from Amerindians describing their experience of the sanitary situation.

 

• Fondation Sacha Warmi, September 20, 2020, Rosa Canelos, director of the « Mujer, Familia y Territorio » program, evokes the reactions of the Kichwa of the Rio Pastaza (Peru) to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the recourse to « traditional » social and sanitary practices. https://www.sachawarmi.org/reflexiones-sobre-la-pandemia-del-covid19-rosa-canelos-vargas-pastaza-amazonia-ecuatoriana/

 

• Servindi, March 23, 2020. Chronicle of the Awajun leader Gil Inoach on his experience of lockdown in Lima, and on the memory of epidemics among the Awajun. http://www.servindi.org/actualidad-cronica/23/03/2020/las-cuarentenas-de-gil-inoach

 

• CAAAP, December 18, 2020. Chronicles of several Urarina leaders on their successive meetings with the Peruvian state officials, and in particular their repeated demands for a local reinforcement of the health infrastructure. https://www.caaap.org.pe/2020/12/18/no-quiero-irme-con-la-palabra-en-la-boca-cronica-de-los-apus-del-urituyacu-en-iquitos/

 

• Tipiti, Open letter from North American Amerindians in support of the indigenous people of Brazil (letter available in Spanish, Portuguese and English): « Una carta abierta de los Pueblos Indígenas del Norte a los Pueblos Indígenas de Brasil sobre cómo sobrevivir al COVID-19 ». https://www.salsa-tipiti.org/covid-19/open-letter-from-indigenous-peoples-on-surviving-covid/

 

• Debates indigenas, July 1, 2000, chronicle of the pandemic in Achuar territory (northern Peru). https://debatesindigenas.org/notas/53-cronica-pandemia-territorio-achuar.html

 

• Yasnava E. Aguilar, “La pandemia nos va a enseñar a tener respuestas colectivas”, August 29, 2020. In this interview, Mixe linguist Yasnaya Aguilar invites us to imagine the possibilities of autonomy that can arise from the community experiences in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic amongst the Mixe of Oaxaca. https://elpais.com/mexico/2020-08-29/yasnaya-e-aguilar-la-pandemia-nos-va-a-ensenar-a-tener-respuestas-colectivas.html

 

• Yasnaya E. Aguilar, “Jëën pä’äm o la enfermedad del fuego”, March 22, 2020. In this essay, Mixe linguist Yasnaya Aguilar explores the parallels between the emergence of Covid-19 and the memory of past pandemics in the oral tradition of the Oaxaca Amerindians. https://elpais.com/elpais/2020/03/22/opinion/1584851651_880173.html

 

• Pedro Uc, “Alternativas de resistencia maya en tiempo de pandemia”, August 19, 2020. Yucatec Mayan poet and environmentalist Pedro Uc situates the Covid-19 pandemic in a larger context of impacts on the Amerindian way of life, in particular due to the expansion of monocultures, mass tourism and massive infrastructure projects in the Yucatan peninsula. http://visionpeninsular.com/mid/alternativas-de-resistencia-maya-en-tiempo-de-pandemia/

 

Updated 09/29/2021:

• NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS,  July 17^th 2020. “Hearing on COVID-19 in Indian Country: The Impact of Federal Broken Promises on Native Americans”. NCAI’s president, Fawn Sharp, testifies during the Commission on Civil Rights to the federal gouvernement of the United States’ failure to adequately responde to the pandemic in Indian Country. Web link: https://www.ncai.org/attachments/Testimonial_DZsioKxiANtlqzyGvRcGDaWpLsbZjlzhnmJpREpHubPVEyMOlYO_NCAI-Written-Testimony-USCCR%207_17_20-Hearing.pdf

 

• THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 12^th 2021. “Tribal Elders Are Dying From the Pandemic, Causing a Cultural Crisis for American Indians”. This article reports on the pandemic’s catastrophic impact on tribal elders from different Native American tribes in the United States, as well as on the cultural crisis caused by these losses. Web link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/us/tribal-elders-native-americans-coronavirus.html

 

• JODI ARCHAMBAULT, January 24^th 2021. “How Covid-19 Threatens Native Languages” looks into the dangers faced by Native American tribes of the United States if their elders don’t receive adequate protection from the pandemic. Web link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/opinion/covid-lakota-language.html

 

• THE RED NATION, March 24^th 2021. “Coronavirus in Indian Country w/ Dean Seneca” is an episode from the Red Nation podcast, hosted by Nick Estes, who invited Dean Seneca, an epidemiologist from the Seneca Nation, to talk about the pandemic in Indian Country. Web link: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/therednation/id/13679903

 

• THE RED NATION, 26 avril 2021. “COVID-19 in Indian Country w/ Chief Jerry Daniels, Destiny Morris, & Janene Yazzie” is an episode from the Red Nation podcast, hosted by Nick Estes, about the Native American reponse to Covid-19. This episode is a recording from a series of webinars, #FridayNightForums, organized by the Arab Resource & Organizing Center and the Center for Political Education. Web link: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/therednation/id/14143568

 

• INDIGENOUS INVESTIGATIVE COLLECTIVE, June 8^th 2021. “Broken system can’t keep track of Native deaths” shows it is impossible to know the pandemic’s impact on Indian Country in the United States, owing to a legal and administrative imbroglio which leads to inacurate numbers. Web link: https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/broken-system-cant-keep-track-of-native-deaths

 

• Núcleo de Estudos da Amazônia Indígena, 2020. This page displays a series of testimonies and reflections by Indigenous students from Brazilian Amazon about the Covid-19 pandemic. Web link: https://www.neai.ufam.edu.br/mapa-da-pandemia-local/94-reflexoes-ameri.html

 

• Núcleo de Estudos da Amazônia Indígena, 2020. Audio testimonies by Indigenous students from the Federal University of Amazonas (Brazil). Web link: https://www.neai.ufam.edu.br/mapa-da-pandemia-local/95-sobrevivendo-na-pandemia-relatos-indigenas-sobre-a-situacao-do-covid-19-no-amazonas.html

 

• Braulina Aurora (Braulina Baniwa), June 18^th 2020. Baniwa anthropologist’s reflections on Covid-19. Web link: https://walimanai.wordpress.com/2020/06/18/memoria-e-saudades-baniwa/?fbclid=IwAR1EcBq32VzqVsIsUQ-LSziGQHPehB5R3wBT5WjlLph_QdgALDLYTJiCGYA

 

• Gersem dos Santos Luciano (Gersem Baniwa), July 5^th 2020. Baniwa anthropologist’s reflections on Covid-19. Web link: https://revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/como-pesquisadores-precisamos-ter-a-humildade-de-assumir-que-nos-deparamos-com-os-limites-da-tecnica-e-da-ciencia/

 

• André Fernando (André Baniwa), May 29^th 2021. Interview with a Baniwa leader about President  Jair Bolsonaro’s visit to São Gabriel da Cachoeira (Amazonas, Brésil) during the pandemic. Web link: https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2021/05/29/bolsonaro-e-pessoa-sem-valor-diz-lideranca-do-amazonas-apos-visita-do-presidente