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Section 7 The Status of Education Among the Camisea Nanti 7.1 Background Since 1991, there have been a school and a school teacher among the Camisea Nanti. The school is administrated, and the school teacher's salary paid, by Unidad de Servicios Escolares (USE) of Quillabamba, the Peruvian government entity responsible for primary and secondary education in the region. In this section, we will examine the the level of education the Camisea Nanti presently have, the operations and methods of the school and schoolteacher as we observed them, and the attitude that the Nanti have toward education and schools within their communities. Our motive in doing so is two-fold: First, the school and schoolteacher are the most intense contact the Nanti have with the modern world, and therefore play an overwhelming role in shaping Nanti attitudes and actions with respect to that world, a subject that is one of the focuses of this report. Second, it is only by means of education that the Nanti will be able to learn those skills that will, one day, allow them to manage their lives in the complex world that every day draws closer. Education is, for the Nanti, like many other indigenous groups, a crucial resource that will enable them to defend their rights and interests in the future. The status of education among the Nanti is, therefore, an indicator of how prepared they are to manage their own affairs and speak for themselves in the modern world. It is our sincere hope that the information contained in this section will be used to improve the educational situation among the Nanti. The majority of the information we present in this section comes from our own observations and investigations during our stay in Malanksiá from late June through July, and in Montetoni from August through the end of September of 1997, as well as from our previous visits in 1993 and 1995. Further information comes from discussions with other people who have either visited and observed Montetoni and Malanksiá, or are involved in some way with the education of the Nanti. It should be pointed out that the authors of this report did not arrive in Malanksiá with any intention to scrutinize the workings of the school or the teacher there. It was only when alarming irregularities in the functioning of the school and the comportment of the teacher became obvious that our attention was drawn to these matters. Our investigations, though informal, encompassed a large number of his students. As a novelty in the village, we were of great interest to the school-age children of Malanksiá, who spent many hours a day visiting us. This gave us ample opportunity to investigate their levels of literacy, mathematical knowledge, and knowledge of Spanish by means of games, showing our visitors books, playing with pens and paper, and attempting to converse in Spanish. Certainly a more formal investigation of the matters raised in this section is in order; we hope that the following will provide a stimulus for such an investigation. As we discuss in Section 4.3, regular friendly contact was first established with the Camisea Nanti in 1989 by Martin Vargas, a bilingual Machiguenga school teacher from Segakiato. Martin Vargas continued to visit the Nanti intermittently until 1991, during which time the Nanti became more comfortable with downriver Machiguengas, and a decision was made by USE Quillabamba to place a school teacher among the Nanti. Silverio Araña was the teacher chosen for this position. Silverio is Machiguenga, and was educated at the Bilingual Institute at Yarinacocha; his previous position as teacher was in Chokoriari. Silverio arrived in the Spring of 1991 in the Nanti settlement of Piegiá, which was at that time the downrivermost settlement, to live among them in the capacity of school teacher. He succeeded in establishing a school in Piegiá during that year, but this school was short-lived. Silverio, presumably acting on the orders of his superiors, planned to settle all the Camisea Nanti in a single settlement, for which the Piegiá site was too small. Besides which, the river near Piegiá was very rough, which made Piegiá a very difficult commute for someone like Silverio who periodically needs to travel to Quillabamba to deliver documents connected with his duties as teacher. In 1992, then, he convinced the Nanti to relocate to the site of Montetoni, where he established a new school. This school operated continuously until 1996. In 1996, he again convinced some of the Nanti to relocate along with him and the school to the present site of Malanksiá. For more information on the formation of the new village, please refer to Section 4.5. His students range in age from about eight to 20, and have numbered around 40 to 50 per year. Some of his present-day students in Malanksiá have attended the school since its establishment in 1991, and a number of the young adult Nanti previously attended the school during their late teens. 7.2 The Present State of Education among the Nanti We begin with a discussion of the current level of education among the Nanti in a number of important areas: literacy, knowledge of mathematics, ability to speak Spanish, and knowledge of the fundamentals of sanitation and hygiene. As of September of 1997, literacy among the Nanti was essentially nonexistent. Although all the students we interacted with in Malanksiá clearly demonstrated an understanding that writing is a form of communication, the details appeared lost to them. Their knowledge of the alphabet was extremely fragmentary, and more significantly, they appeared to have no understanding that letters, as symbols, correspond to sounds; and that these sounds, in conjunction, form words. In the school they are required to copy letters that Silverio produces on the chalkboard and are also assigned this task as homework. The students dutifully reproduce the letters, with varying success, but are unable to write a given letter upon request. It is as though in copying the letters over and over, they are simply reproducing a scrawl which has no meaning or content to them. Despite much prompting on our part, we found no student able to recite even part of the alphabet, and certainly no one who could write down part of it. The students were unable to write any words upon request. The situation with reading was similar -- no one was able to recognize the simplest written words in either Nanti, Machiguenga, or Spanish. A few of the best students can, with difficulty, write their own names in recognizable form, but this appears to be the result of rote memorization of the shape of the letters, and indicates no understanding of spelling or orthography. This problem is illustrated by a story told by one of the nurses from the Ministry of Health post at Boca Camisea, who has visited Malanksiá on a number of occasions for vaccination purposes. She commented on her surprise and frustration in attempting to keep records in the Nanti villages, because none of the villagers, young or old, were able to write or spell their names, nor read them. Certainly it is no surprise that the elder members of the community could not achieve this feat, but the fact that many of the young people have attended the school for many years -- some for as many as six years -- and yet are still unable to write or read their names is a clear sign that very little progress has been made with literacy among the Nanti during Silverio's time among them. There has been slightly more success in the realm of mathematics. Although few of the Nanti students can count up to ten with ease, most know the names of the numbers, and with a little help can put them in the correct sequence. It is a point of pride for some of Silverio's best students that they can count up to ten, but none of them can count to twenty without error. Also, most of them most can write the numbers up to ten, although their grasp on the connection between the written symbol and the spoken number is frequently tenuous. Certainly no one in the school can add, subtract or perform any other mathematical operations. Curiously, though, we saw written in the notebooks of several students numbers and "equations", but they were largely incorrect (e.g. 1+9 =72, and so on). It appears that all of the arithmetic homework the students produce is of this nature. Thus, some of the Nanti students have learned to copy the structures and forms of arithmetic, but have not learned any of its content. Spanish-speaking ability is also essentially non-existent among the Nanti students of Silverio's school. Although the authors of this report hardly feel that at this early stage of contact and the educational process that the teaching of Spanish is crucial, we include this discussion because Spanish-speaking is something that Silverio places a great deal of importance on, and because, as we discuss below, he does a great deal of his teaching in Spanish. Apart from a few dozen loan words from Spanish, such as gasolina, clavo, acha, plato, etc., Spanish is not used among the Camisea Nanti, either by the students of the school or others. The students have a somewhat wider Spanish vocabulary, including words like bandera, lapiz, and libro, but they have no greater knowledge of spoken Spanish than any of the other Nanti. We asked many of the students in Malanksiá "Cómo se llama Usted?" (What is your name?) but only a few boys readily responded; most simply looked at us blankly, with embarrassment. The closest the students have come to learning any Spanish is the memorization a single brief greeting dialog, presented below. The students never initiate the exchange, but will respond in the role of Person 2 if cued. Interestingly, it does not appear that they have any idea of the content of this exchange, since one can replace "Cómo está Usted?" with a great variety of other phrases, such as "Está enfermo?", "Donde está yendo?", and so forth, and still receive the same response, "Muy bien gracias, y Usted?". Similarly, if one begins the dialog with "Buenos dias, cómo está Usted?", they will respond with "Buenos dias." and wait for the next line in the dialog, not aware that it has already been spoken. It is also apparent that they do not yet understand when one uses "Buenos dias," and when one uses "Buenas tardes." That Spanish, even at this elementary level, is nothing but memorized sounds, free of meaning or content, is a clear indication that Silverio's Nanti students have yet to learn any Spanish, apart from those loan words that have been incorporated into Nanti speech. In certain respects this is not surprising. There is no need, at this early stage of contact with the outside world, for them to speak Spanish, and they have essentially no opportunities to practice Spanish, even if they were being taught in an effective manner. What makes the Nanti students' inability to speak or understand Spanish alarming is that a substantial portion of Silverio's teaching is done in Spanish. We wish to be clear that it is not that Silverio spends a substantial portion of class time teaching the students to speak and understand Spanish, but rather that he teaches them in Spanish, using a vocabulary and speed of speech that would be appropriate for fluent or near-fluent Spanish speakers. That Silverio's students are lectured for hours each day in Spanish, yet do not understand Spanish, is a clear sign that there is something terribly wrong with the educational practices in Montetoni. We discuss this further in Section 7.3, below. Finally we turn to the matter of education in non-academic but nevertheless important areas. Given that the Nanti have only been in regular contact with the outside world since the late 1980's, it makes sense that complex new concepts like those of written language, mathematics, and a foreign language, discussed above, would be difficult for them. Several other bilingual Machiguenga school teachers pointed out to us the need for teachers in an initial contact setting like that with the Nanti to begin with the most basic concepts of "civilization" and education, and then build upon those lessons. Some good examples are basic hygiene, such as hand-washing, the boiling of drinking water, and the use of latrines to curb the spread of disease; and basic health care, such as rehydration of persons with severe diarrhea. These lessons, while perhaps not part of a regular education in a mestizo school, are very important for a group suffering exposure to new, introduced diseases, and one coming to terms with living in a large, permanent and concentrated community for the first time. Unfortunately, the Nanti have not yet been taught any of these concepts. Silverio has demonstrated essentially no interest in teaching these elementary lessons of "civilization"; there are no latrines in either Montetoni or Malanksiá, and the Nanti have no understanding that there is a connection between sanitation and sickness. Angel Diaz, who was present in Malanksiá in November of 1997 during a severe outbreak of diarrhea and malaria that took the lives of seven Nanti children, expressed to us his disbelief and shock that the Nanti had still not been taught the most basic aspects of hygiene that could prevent such a tragedy, or at least minimize its impact. Although Silverio's school has had little success in areas that one typically associates with the function of an educational institution, the school nevertheless has had a substantial impact. Not only the students, but the entire Nanti population, have learned many new behaviors and come to hold many new beliefs due to the school and Silverio's work in it. Primarily, they have learned order and obedience. The children report to school promptly at 8 am each school day, dressed in their designated school clothes, and carrying their notebooks. The students sit quietly and attentively while in the school building, and follow instructions that they understand. They have learned to come running immediately at the sound of Silverio's whistle; to march in line; to perform calisthenics; and to make Peruvian flags by coloring pieces of paper. They have learned, with varying success, to sing Peruvian folk songs along with Silverio. They have learned with great success to play soccer. Many of the students have taken on roles like those of servants in Silverio's household, and some also function as laborers and messengers for him within and between the communities. The Nanti adults, especially in Malanksiá, also demonstrate deference and obedience to Silverio, though they are not his students per se. When he calls a community meeting, or gives an order, the Nanti adults are cooperative and respectful, and never contradict or defy his wishes. The Nanti have cooperated with many demands made by Silverio to alter their cultural practices, aspects of dress and adornment, even their language. If any Nanti disagrees with Silverio's words or actions, it is not overtly expressed in the public sphere. Please refer to Sections 4.5 and 4.6 for further discussion of these issues. In summary, the main effect of the school among the Nanti has been to acculturate and nationalize the Nanti to a certain degree. The Nanti now recognize the Peruvian flag as something significant, and an important symbol of and for many people who they do not know, but who live downriver from them. They recognize that Silverio is an important and powerful link between them and the material goods they desire from the world outside of their communities; and therefore they show him deference and respect, and acquiesce to his desires, requests and demands. Unfortunately, at present the Nanti have little understanding of what education really is, and no sense that it will someday benefit them. 7.3 Materials and Methods Employed in the School The enormous lack of success of the school and education among Camisea Nanti demands an explanation. The authors of this report have observed several simple but powerful factors working against the Nanti in their academic endeavors. The most obvious obstacle to their success is the lack of educational materials in the Nanti language. As we discuss in Section 3.3, there is sufficient difference between Nanti and Machiguenga to make even simple conversation difficult at times. There are significant differences in the phonology (speech sounds), and lexicon (vocabulary) of Nanti and Machiguenga. However, all of the materials used in the Nanti school are written in Machiguenga. These two languages are sufficiently different to make these materials virtually useless, especially at the basic level of teaching young children to read. As one might imagine, trying to teach reading and writing to a group of students unfamiliar with literacy would be hard enough, without compounding the problem by employing texts in a similar, but different language. Furthermore, the Machiguenga bilingual schoolteacher, Silverio Araña, does not speak Nanti. As recently as July of 1997, he confided to the authors of this report that he still has many difficulties in communicating with the Nanti, both in and outside of the schoolhouse. He made plain to us his opinion that the source of the problem was the Nantis' unwillingness to use or to learn Machiguenga, and he made it clear that he himself did not intend to begin speaking Nanti. Some of the Nanti have adopted many Machiguenga words, but the language barrier between Silverio and the Nanti is still a large one. In many respects, Silverio believes that the Nanti language is simply poorly spoken Machiguenga, and he displays little interest in speaking it or teaching in it. Worse, Silverio has been working to suppress the use of Nanti and make both his students and the Nanti adults speak "proper" Machiguenga. He has told the Nanti that many of the words that they use are "bad", and that they should instead use the Machiguenga equivalent. Examples include animal names; the Nanti word for deer, shotyáviri, has been replaced by the Machiguenga word mániro ; and kinship terms. Silverio has made efforts to replace Nanti kinship terms with their Machiguenga equivalent, and entirely eliminate the Nanti age-class terms, for which there is no equivalent in Machiguenga. In many cases, the Nanti have become so embarrassed by some words of their own language that they do not even like to admit that they once used the word, so convinced are they that the words are inferior to their Machiguenga equivalents. One course of action that Silverio has chosen in response to the language problem is an unexpected one. He has begun to lecture them in Spanish, along with Machiguenga, because he believes it to be equally effective. He is not teaching them Spanish; he is teaching them in Spanish. When Silverio first told us that he was teaching the Nanti partially in Spanish, we had difficulty believing him. Nevertheless, we often observed him teaching his class in Spanish during our stay in Malanksiá, when passed by the school building. We could hear Silverio lecturing his students in rapid Spanish, about Peruvian history, politics or the prices of produce in the market. Needless to say, these lectures were both unintelligible and completely irrelevant to the Nanti students. Indeed, it verges on the incredible that Silverio chooses to teach in a language incomprehensible to his students. Another obstacle that the Nanti face in the education process is a lack of simplicity in the teaching methods Silverio employs. Silverio appears either unwilling or incapable of beginning his educational efforts among the Nanti at the very most elementary levels required to introduce the basic concepts of literacy and numeracy to a preliterate society whose members, until very recently, were ignorant of the existence of written communication or numbers greater than two. Silverio showed us, for example, the Machiguenga text book he uses to teach the Nanti letters and reading, and it is far above the level of any of his students. Similarly, none of the Nanti can yet competently count, but we witnessed several math lessons about multiplication and calculating discounts on prices. Silverio has not begun at the most basic levels, with letters and numbers, and worked at this level until his students are ready to proceed. He has not given his students a foundation upon which to build, and so they are lost from the outset. The question of simplicity points to an underlying issue of education, namely the subject matter taught and the priorities set by the school teacher. In order for the incipient education of a recently contacted group such as the Nanti to succeed, the teacher would need to be very patient, deliberate, and interested in helping the Nanti to learn. Teaching the Nanti how to read, write, and perform arithmetic, however, is not at the top of Silverio's list of priorities. Silverio's major goal is to make the Nanti "civilized", according to his definition of the term; the school is but one avenue by which he pursues this end. We discuss these broader motivations of Silverio at length in Section 8.2, but suffice it to say here that dressing and living like mestizos, earning money, and being obedient to him, are the major goals Silverio has for the Nanti. Being educated, though a desirable goal in his eyes, is substantially less important than these other ones Given that these are the explicit priorities of the school teacher among the Nanti, it is less surprising that the Nanti have learned very little from him. 7.4 Nanti Attitudes Towards Education Silverio Araña's inability to teach the Nanti effectively is certainly a great impediment to Nanti education, but there is perhaps a still graver obstacle for the future -- the attitude of the Nanti adults themselves towards schoolteachers and schools. Many adults in Montetoni, including Migsero, the influential presidente of the community, expressed their desire never to have another school or teacher in Montetoni. In fact, the presidente, on hearing that we were planning to speak to people who are responsible for the teachers in the region (USE Quillabamba and Edgar Barrientos), told us to take a message to them, telling them that neither teachers nor a school were welcome in Montetoni. In a view echoed by other adults in Montetoni, Migsero told us that the school did not teach the students anything. He said that his own children have gone to school for many years, and they have nothing to show for time spent in Silverio's school. In fact, the only effect that Migsero credits the school with having is that it has taught the youngsters in Malanksiá to lie and steal. In short, the Montetoni Nanti see the school as a harmful introduction, or entirely useless at the very least. Given the ineffectiveness of Silverio's school, the belief among the Montetoni Nanti that the school teaches their children nothing is not surprising. Even though the adults themselves are not literate or knowledgeable about mathematics, they can discern that their children have not learned much that they themselves do not know. It should be noted, however, that much of the concern the Nanti have is not about a school per se, but the arrival of a new teacher in Montetoni. The Montetoni Nanti told us on several occasions that Silverio has threatened them repeatedly that if they do not move to Malanksiá, a second teacher will be sent to Montetoni. The Nanti are clearly displeased by the possibility of such an outcome, and are seeking to avoid it. The aversion of the Montetoni Nanti to a new teacher must be due to their experience with Silverio. When Silverio first arrived in 1991, the Montetoni Nanti told us, they had no objection to him starting a school among them; but now, they want him and any other teacher to stay away from their community. It is very unfortunate that the Montetoni Nanti have identified traits that are particular to Silverio -- the taking of Nanti women, abuse of power to require uncompensated labor, the oppression of Nanti language and culture, and of course teaching ineffectiveness -- with teachers in general, but it appears that this is what has happened. The end result is that the Montetoni Nanti are now firmly opposed to the presence of a teacher and school among them. It will require much work to convince them that their one unfortunate experience with education is not indicative of education in general, and that furthermore, education is essential to the future well-being of their community. Many of the attitudes we have just described were expressed in the course of a series of events that culminated, in September of 1997, with many of the children of Montetoni ceasing to attend the school in Malanksiá. These events, described in detail in Section 4.5, essentially involved a decision on the part of the children to stop going to school in Malanksiá, due to both the inconvenience of the commute to Malanksiá, and the increasing hostility that Silverio was displaying towards the residents of Montetoni, who are, after all, the parents of these same children. The decision of the children to quit the school, and Silverio's attempts to coerce them to return, resulted in a great deal of open discussion about the value of the school, probably for the first time. The outcome of this discussion was that the adult community members of Montetoni decided not to force their children to return to school in Malanksiá, as well as publicly casting doubt on the value of the school. 7.5 Silverio Araña Gomez's Conduct as School Teacher In addition to issues of his effectiveness as a teacher, discussed above, there is also the issue of Silverio's responsibilities and performance as a paid public employee. We now turn to that matter, that is, the conduct of Silverio Araña Gomez as a school teacher employed and paid by USE of Quillabamba. During our first weeks in Malanksiá, our relationship with Silverio was mostly cordial, and he was happy to let us use the school building as a quiet place for us to write when it was not in use. Posted on the walls were many of Silverio's documents and records pertaining to the daily schedule, curriculum, attendance and grading of his pupils. These included schedules submitted to USE Quillabamba describing his activities during the work day, the subjects taught, the goals for each grade level, and the performance of his pupils in the subjects taught. Although these documents are the ones Silverio presents to USE Quillabamba as testament of his work, none of these papers corresponded to the activities of the school that we actually witnessed. We believe that if Silverio's superiors were to carefully investigate Silverio's claims about his work among the Nanti, they would discover years of fraudulent practices and falsified documents. For example, according to a document he prepared for USE Quillabamba, the school day in Montetoni runs from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. for school age students, concluding with an hour of adult literacy education from 2 to 3 p.m.. In reality, however, the school day lasts until noon at the latest, and frequently no later than 10 a.m., including several breaks. There is no adult literacy education of any kind. Worse though, is the fact that no school is held at all at times. During the month we spent in Malanksiá, only half of the days on which school was scheduled was class actually held. On the other days Silverio was occupied with personal interests, such as hunting trips, the repair of his roof, and sleeping off the excesses of previous nights' revelries. In short, during the month we spent in Malanksiá, roughly one quarter of the scheduled class time was actually held. In addition, Silverio often goes on trips to Quillabamba, to pick up his pay and make purchases, which last two or three weeks. The classes missed during this time are not made up. Other examples of fraud include an incident related to us by Edgar Barrientos, Silverio's immediate superior. Edgar told us that Silverio had brought some of his students to Nueva Luz, where Edgar is based, to demonstrate that he is having success in his teaching endeavors. Apparently what Silverio did, however, was have the boys memorize a section of text, in order to appear able to read out loud. Edgar easily saw through this ruse, however, when the boys proved unable to read anything else, even the simplest words. This particular incident complements the falsified documentation Silverio presents to USE Quillabamba as to the success he is having with his students in teaching them such subjects as Peruvian History, literature, and natural science. Many of his students receive high marks in these subjects and pass on to the next grade at the appropriate time, when it is almost impossible for them to have the slightest knowledge about the subjects for which they have received the marks, or mastered even the most elementary skills that would warrant their promotion to the next grade. Silverio is deliberately obscuring the failure of his educational efforts among the Nanti. Between the complete lack of supervision he enjoys, and his failure in educating the Nanti, it appears that he does not take his teaching duties very seriously any longer -- despite his legitimacy in the community being based on his position as teacher. 7.6 Recommendations Pertaining to the Future of Education among the Camisea Nanti The present state of education among the Camisea Nanti is clearly an unfortunate one. Given the importance of education in providing indigenous groups with the tools that allow them to defend their rights, land, and interests, we feel that it is imperative that changes be made with education among the Camisea Nanti. Based upon our observations in Malanksiá and Montetoni we propose the following recommendations:
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