Yanomami humanitarian tragedy: an urgent colonial heritage issue

Nearly 10% of the original Amazon rainforest has been deforested between 1985 and 2021, totaling 72 million lost hectares. In the Brazilian portion of the forest, the destruction has been caused by urban infrastructure, mining, agriculture, and forestry.¹

Of these factors, mining has been the most intrusive, with a 766% increase in forest destruction over the last 37 years. Garimpo is an illegal mining practice that involves the use of heavy metals and water and soil pollutants to extract ores and precious metals, mainly gold. Although this activity occurs throughout Brazil, 93% of such mines are located in the Amazon.¹

Between 2010 and 2020, the area consumed by garimpo in indigenous lands increased by 495%.¹ This advance has led to an ongoing humanitarian tragedy among the Yanomami tribe. In 2011, the total population of Yanomami was 26,000 people residing in traditional territory in the northernmost region of the Amazon. Contact with Brazilian society is recent, dating from the 1940s, and on some reservations the Yanomami still live in isolation from the national society with minimal acculturation.²Garimpo in Yanomami lands directly affects more than 56% of their population.¹

The impact of garimpo goes beyond what can be observed in forests and rivers. The affected areas involve sexual violence against women and children, exacerbated conflict and violence, food insecurity and child malnutrition, mercury contamination, increased rates of malaria, and the destruction of indigenous health care services. What is happening now among the Yanomami has already occurred in other contexts with other peoples in Brazilian history.

Historically, indigenous peoples have been the target of numerous forms of violence through colonization and interethnic contact with society.³ The effects of colonial violence resonate throughout contemporary indigenous communities in stereotypes, stigma, and prejudice. These attitudes have created a permissive environment for the predation of traditional indigenous lands and subjugation of their traditional cultures.

The impact of this activity on the mental health of the Yanomami has not been reported in the literature, but other examples can serve as a comparison for the coming scenario. Although each indigenous people is unique, they share common challenges and threats, such as their struggle to exist, maintain their territories, and preserve their traditional knowledge and ways of life.

The transformation of the Yanomami’s sociocultural universe due to interethnic contact, deforestation, and degradation of the land has impacted their well-being, increasing their vulnerability, especially to suicide and substance abuse. In 2017, the suicide mortality rate among indigenous Brazilians (15/100,000) was almost three times higher than that of non-indigenous Brazilians (5/100,000). The suicide mortality rate among indigenous children is 18 times higher than among non-indigenous children.⁴ Suicide has become an epidemic in the last decade, including multiple attempts in short periods by the same individual. Data in the literature suggest that many indigenous youth have not adopted the values passed down from generation to generation by shamans, traditional chiefs, healers, and elders.⁴ These values are considered important protective factors against suicide for indigenous people.

Alcohol and other drug abuse among indigenous peoples is complex and contemporary, resulting from biological, psychological, historical, social, and cultural factors.⁵ This harmful use of drugs among indigenous peoples is associated with illness and injury. These problems have arisen due to precarious living conditions brought about through the colonization process. The indigenous peoples with the most significant problems are those with the most intimate and unequal relationships with Europeans.

In confluence with national data indicating increased rates of suicide and alcohol and drug consumption among indigenous people, the Yanomami face current and impending difficulties. Changes to the natural environment of indigenous areas by invaders who exploit the land and contaminate rivers, as well as the encroachment of “civilization” for economic exploitation, pose fundamental challenges to mental health, resilience, and recovery of indigenous populations, especially that of the Yanomami.

References

• ¹
  MapBiomas Amazonía. Colección 4.0 de mapas anuales de cobertura y uso del suelo en la Amazonía [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2023 Mar 27]. amazonia.mapbiomas.org
  » amazonia.mapbiomas.org
• ²
  Brasil, Ministério da Saúde, Secretaria Especial de Saúde Indígena. Saúde indígena: um direito constitucional [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2023 Oct 23]. bvsms.saude.gov.br/bvs/publicacoes/saude_indigena_direito_constitucional.pdf
  » bvsms.saude.gov.br/bvs/publicacoes/saude_indigena_direito_constitucional.pdf
• ³
  Fernandes JA. Selvagens bebedeiras. Álcool, embriaguez e contatos culturais no Brasil Colonial (séculos XVI-XVII). São Paulo: Alameda; 2011.
• ⁴
  Souza MLP. Mortalidade por suicídio entre crianças indígenas no Brasil. Cad Saude Publica. 2019;35:00019219.
• ⁵
  Langdon EJ. “O que beber, como beber e quando beber: o contexto sociocultural no alcoolismo entre as populações Indígenas”. In: Langdon EJ. Saúde, saberes e ética: três conferências sobre antropologia da saúde. Florianópolis: PPGAS/UFSC; 1999.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  27 Nov 2023
• Date of issue
  Sep-Oct 2023

History

• Received
  27 July 2023
• Accepted
  7 Aug 2023