Future possibilities for new old tribe in Brazil (click here to link to article)

I read an article in The Independent today about the finding of a previously uncontacted tribe of Yanomamo people with a mix of excitement and trepidation. Excitement that a group of people had managed to survive without coming into contact with any of the rest of the world in what has become a highly populous and industrialised area. How have this tribe of the Yanomamo people, a people studied in incredible minutiae over the decades, managed to escape anthropological scrutiny? It is both wondrous and thrilling; particularly at a time when most of us have assumed that all the world's peoples and cultures have already been identified, studied and impinged upon in some way.

It is, however, an excitement tinged with fear. Fear for these people who have known no other way of life. Fear for the potential loss of their traditional ways, their language, their traditional associations and practices. I hope that history has taught us something. I hope that we have learned from our mistakes with other cultures in other places. I hope we are not destined to repeat the foolishnesses of the past in trying to assimilate these people into dominant cultures before they are ready. I hope we are more clever in our approach to these people, more cognisant of our potential impact on them and their future generations. I have minimal faith in our inherent ability to contact this previously uncontacted tribe without causing intentional or unintentional harm. However, I remain nervously optimistic that we have learned a thing or two.