The Yaminawá (Iaminaua, Jaminawa
Yawanawa
'') are an

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

who live in

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

(

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

), Madre de Dios (

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

) and Pando (

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

). Their homeland is Acre, Brazil.

Name

The Yaminawá translated to "people of the axe." They are also called the Iaminaua, Jaminawa, Yaminawá (in Brazil), and Yaminahua (in Peru and Bolívia), as well as Yuminahua, Yabinahua, Yambinahua, Yamanawa, and other variants. The Yaminawá name was given to them by outsiders. They have several autonyms including Bashonawá (''basho'' = "opossum"), Marinawá (''mari'' = "cutia", an

agouti The agouti (, ) or common agouti is any of several rodent species of the genus ''Dasyprocta''. They are native to Middle America, northern and central South America, and the southern Lesser Antilles. Some species have also been introduced else ...

), Xixinawá (''xixi'' = "white

coati Coatis, also known as coatimundis (), are members of the family Procyonidae in the genera ''Nasua'' and ''Nasuella''. They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, Mexico, and the southwestern United States. The name "c ...

"), or Yawanawá (''yawa'' = "wild boar").

Language

The

Yaminawá language Yaminawa (Yaminahua) is a Panoan language of western Amazonia. It is spoken by the Yaminawá and some related peoples. Yaminawa constitutes an extensive dialect cluster. Attested dialects are ''two or more Brazilian Yaminawa dialects, Peruvia ...

belongs to the

Panoan language Panoan (also Pánoan, Panoano, Panoana, Páno) is a family of languages spoken in Peru, western Brazil, and Bolivia. It is possibly a branch of a larger Pano–Tacanan family. Genetic relations The Panoan family is generally believed to be relat ...

family. Linguists estimate that less than 1600 people speak the language. Its

ISO 639-3 ISO 639-3:2007, ''Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages'', is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. It defines three-letter codes for i ...

code is YAA. Very few Yaminawá people speak Spanish or Portuguese, and their literacy rate is extremely low."Yaminahua."
''Ethnologue.'' (retrieved 25 June 2011)

Current affairs

The Yawanawa community is currently led by Tashka and Laura Yawanawa. Tashka Yawanawa had served as Chief of the Yananawa since 2001. In just a few years, Tashka and his wife Laura ( Mixteca-

Zapoteca Zapotec () or zapoteca may refer to: Cultures and languages * Zapotec civilization, a historical indigenous pre-Columbian civilization and archaeological culture of central Mexico * Zapotec languages, a group of closely related indigenous Mesoame ...

) have worked to increase Yawanawa territory, reinvigorate Yawanawa culture, and establish economically and socially empowering relationships with the outside world. The Yawanawa community and their allies are developing a new model of sustainability that allows the Yawanawa to protect the rainforest and engage with the outside world on their own terms, without losing their cultural and spiritual identity.

Name

Language

Current affairs

References

Further reading