1998 Alto Río Purús Study
In June and July of 1998 the Cabeceras Aid Project fieldwork team of Chris Beier and Lev Michael traveled to the remote Rio Purús area of the southern Peru/Brazil border region.
The principal purposes of the visit were to begin learning a language of the Panoan language family and to investigate the status of uncontacted or isolated indigenous groups in the region.
It is believed by many anthropologists working in southeastern Peru that
some of the isolated groups of the region speak Panoan languages. The
Cabeceras Aid Project fieldwork team decided it would be desirable to
have preparation in speaking a Panoan language in case of future need
for Cabeceras Aid Project activity among one of these groups. We believe
it is essential to be able to communicate directly with the indigenous
people we work with, rather than rely on an intermediary. See our Philosophy,
Goals and Strategies page for more on this strategy.Our fieldworkers were invited to visit the Sharanahua community of Gastabala, where they studied Sharanahua, one of the several Panoan languages in the region. They left Gastabala with a good grounding in the language.
While in Gastabala they also gathered information about the isolated indigenous groups of the region and efforts currently underway to contact them. Their findings are summarized in the report entitled Isolated Indigenous Groups of the Rio Purús Region (1999). Cabeceras Aid Project will distribute this report to individuals and organizations concerned with the well-being of the indigenous peoples of the Purús region.
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