Guyana’s Indigenous peoples – Part I

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By Mark DaCosta- In this, the month of September, 2023, Guyanese join to honour and celebrate the contribution made to our collective culture by Guyana’s Indigenous peoples. Heritage Month 2023 is being observed under the theme, “Sustaining Our Cultural Heritage and Identity While Contributing to One Guyana.” The theme of the observance was contrived by the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) regime through its Ministry of Amerindian Affairs.

While Guyana’s Indigenous peoples – having lived on this land for over 12,000 years – face numerous, diverse challenges, it is saddening and vexatious that the PPP regime is blatantly trying to politicise and claim ownership of this month’s observance.

First, the phrase “one Guyana,” which is part of the theme, is a PPP invention intended to gloss-over and rebut accusations and allegations of institutional racism against the governing party. Those allegations have continued to come from individuals and groups across the world. The PPP is busy trying to make that phrase Guyana’s national motto, even as all right-thinking citizens continue to resist the PPP’s attempts to take ownership of everything in Guyana.

Guyana’s National Motto is, One People, One Nation, One Destiny.

Second, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs was so named by the PPP in spite of the fact that the word “Amerindian” is despised by Guyana’s Indigenous peoples. Guyanese will recall that the government of the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition had changed the name of that ministry to reflect the will of Indigenous peoples, but the PPP re-installed the offensive “Amerindian” word in August 2020 when the regime came to power.

The word “Amerindian” is a combination of American+Indian. Experts say that the word is legitimately used to denote North American Indigenous groups. However, the word is not related to India or Indian, and it is certainly not applicable to Guyana’s Indigenous peoples.

On the other hand, the term Indigenous comes from Latin origins; it means, “native from the land.” The word was first used in 1646 by a European scholar, and it accurately reflects the reality of the origin of Guyana’s first peoples.

Guyana’s Indigenous peoples comprise some ten (10) percent of the country’s total population. Each group is proud of its individual and collective culture and is trying to protect that heritage in spite of real and manufactured obstacles and challenges.

One of those challenges is the fact that over the thousands of years, Indigenous peoples in Guyana have had many difficulties keeping written records. Those difficulties stem from internal and external factors including colonisation. One notable result of that problem is the current differences in the English spellings and versions of Guyana’s various indigenous groups. The following is a list of Guyana’s 9 Indigenous peoples; take note of the issue of names. Additionally, note that some groups also have a presence in neighboring countries. This reality underscores the fact that Indigenous peoples were here long before modern national borders were established.

• Akawaio (Also known as Acahuayo, Acewaio, Akawai, or Ingariko), Mazaruni River basin and Venezuela

• Island Caribs, known as their mainland counterpart Kalina (Also known as Cariña, Galibi, Kalihna, Kalinya, Kariña, Kari’nja), northeast

• Patamona (Also known as Ingarikó), west central, Brazil, and Venezuela

• Lokono (Arawak), Guyana, Trinidad, Venezuela

• Macushi, Brazil and Guyana

• Pemon (Arecuna), upland savannah, Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela

• Waiwai, Amazonas, Brazil and Guyana

• Wapishana (Also known as Uapixana, Vapidiana, Wapichan, Wapichana, Wapisana, Wapishshiana, Wapisiana, Wapitxana, Wapixana) Brazil and Guyana

• Warao (Also known as Guarao, Guarauno, Warau, Warrau), Guyana and Venezuela

As Heritage Month continues, Village Voice News joins hands with Indigenous Guyanese to document facts about our first peoples, highlight their problems, and emphasise their contributions to Guyana.

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