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Nova Esperança community, Rio Gregório Yawanawá Indigenous Territory, State of Acre, Brazil, 2016. In the course of some 50 years, the Yawanawá have emerged from complete invisibility into a period of exuberant cultural activity, becoming a reference point for sustainable living and indigenous culture for travelers from all over the world. In 1970, there were just 120 of them, with rampant alcoholism and the resulting social and cultural breakdown, to the point where their language was about to disappear. They were pressured not to use their language in front of whites, mainly by the owners of the rubber plantations, who controlled the forests of Acre from the late 19th century. The planta...View all