The ways of the Warao
Configurations of the displacements among Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana
Abstract
Based on several empirical researches that I have carried out with the Warao, both in Brazil and in Guyana, this article aims to describe and analyze the way in which these indigenous people have dealt with different processes of displacement. Forced to leave their territories, the Warao have arrived in Venezuelan urban areas or have crossed the border to reach other countries. In these contexts, their lives drastically changed. Constituting themselves as a heterogeneous people, they adopt different strategies to deal with such transformations, which is reflected, for example, in learning a new language, in the forms of housing, work activities, formation of families and in carrying out political roles. The challenges, in turn, are also different, depending on the greater or lesser proximity to urbanized areas, as well as the contacts they have established with non-indigenous people.