The Brazilian state of Maranhão has historically been plundered and stripped for resources. But Maranhão is also a story of resilience. More than 500 years ago, when invaders arrived, the Awá people sought to preserve both nature and their own lives. With some Awá groups remaining uncontacted, they are considered among the most endangered Indigenous peoples in the world.
As hunter-gatherers, the Awá are known to establish fascinating and unique inter-species relationships with the animals they live with, hunt, and eat. But a few years ago, they began to modify many of their habits. Now COVID-19 confronts them with a new situation.
Questions arise: What are the Awá like? How do they live? What do they eat?
There are signs of transformation. The only ones who can record that transformation — and in fact are doing so — are the Awá themselves.
This is a story of dialogues at a distance, a search for tools so that the Awá can share and narrate their own experiences, to foster dialogues of reparation.
