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Getting to Know Waiwai: An Amazonian Ethnography
Living with the Wayapi, and their charismatic leader Waiwai, is a serious adventure. It is demanding, and can turn dangerous in a moment. The environment is a difficult one, but beautiful and baffling in its richness. And the job of learning about the people is like a journey without end.
Alan Campbell tells the story of these people, and of the time he spent with them, in an imaginative, beautifully written account which looks back from a century into the future to relate a way of life that is being destroyed. In doing so, he addresses important and complex issues in current anthroplogical theory in a way which makes them accessible without sacrificing any of their subtlety.
Alan Campbell tells the story of these people, and of the time he spent with them, in an imaginative, beautifully written account which looks back from a century into the future to relate a way of life that is being destroyed. In doing so, he addresses important and complex issues in current anthroplogical theory in a way which makes them accessible without sacrificing any of their subtlety.
- GenresNonfiction
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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January 31, 2026
Written as one hell of a love letter to the Wayapi people of the Amazon rainforest, Getting to Know Wai Wai allows Campbell to give a clear and educated description of the humanity we seem to both gain and lose when dealing with cultures so different and separate from our own.
From the get-go, we understand that the Wayapi people are under attack - the detrimental losses of habitat and percentages of the population make it understandably difficult for them to continue on with their lives equally as prideful as they were in the beginning. Greed filters in from the outside, from a larger, meaner, colder world which seems to only seek material gain and further power. Campbell discusses the intensity of which modern-day society wishes to own the 'savage' - enforcing programs of 'integration' and teaching literacy under the guise of mercy. He discusses firmly how the initial belief that such things could bring advantages for the Wayapi people, while understandable, leads to the easy road of arrogance; there is always an ulterior force, whether it was put there on purpose or accidentally, it matters little - what's happening, is happening.
The most emphasised point Campbell prioritises is the importance of language, and from this the importance of connection. He talks so fondly of the friends he's made, and so lovingly, and we are reminded of how easily it is to fall into a cruel narrative that speaks of an 'us' and a 'them'. Connection is everywhere.
Nonetheless, there are, and always will be, barriers. Campbell walks us through this carefully - whilst anthropology is built on interviews, on the study of humanity, and a delicate mix of individualism and collectivism, anthropology can also be horrendously transactional, especially for a practice which relies heavily on the production of trust between two souls from starkly different backgrounds.
Published a little over 30 years ago, the last few chapters of this book are spoken in a faint tone of acceptance. Times are changing for the Wayapi people, and they feel the impending dread of forces too big for anyone to understand washing over them - taking over their lives one idiosyncrasy at a time (swapping bows and arrows for shotguns, for example, or the loss of certain species they'd hunt or admire).
Regardless, what's very important to acknowledge is that the defiance of these people is still very much alive. The originality of their culture may be washed of it's strength, but their ways and identity will survive because they know enough to document it, to fight back for themselves. It's no longer a struggle for themselves, but a struggle for their ancestors who might live to mourn what was lost, and, as readers, we can only hope in their succeeding.
From the get-go, we understand that the Wayapi people are under attack - the detrimental losses of habitat and percentages of the population make it understandably difficult for them to continue on with their lives equally as prideful as they were in the beginning. Greed filters in from the outside, from a larger, meaner, colder world which seems to only seek material gain and further power. Campbell discusses the intensity of which modern-day society wishes to own the 'savage' - enforcing programs of 'integration' and teaching literacy under the guise of mercy. He discusses firmly how the initial belief that such things could bring advantages for the Wayapi people, while understandable, leads to the easy road of arrogance; there is always an ulterior force, whether it was put there on purpose or accidentally, it matters little - what's happening, is happening.
The most emphasised point Campbell prioritises is the importance of language, and from this the importance of connection. He talks so fondly of the friends he's made, and so lovingly, and we are reminded of how easily it is to fall into a cruel narrative that speaks of an 'us' and a 'them'. Connection is everywhere.
Nonetheless, there are, and always will be, barriers. Campbell walks us through this carefully - whilst anthropology is built on interviews, on the study of humanity, and a delicate mix of individualism and collectivism, anthropology can also be horrendously transactional, especially for a practice which relies heavily on the production of trust between two souls from starkly different backgrounds.
Published a little over 30 years ago, the last few chapters of this book are spoken in a faint tone of acceptance. Times are changing for the Wayapi people, and they feel the impending dread of forces too big for anyone to understand washing over them - taking over their lives one idiosyncrasy at a time (swapping bows and arrows for shotguns, for example, or the loss of certain species they'd hunt or admire).
Regardless, what's very important to acknowledge is that the defiance of these people is still very much alive. The originality of their culture may be washed of it's strength, but their ways and identity will survive because they know enough to document it, to fight back for themselves. It's no longer a struggle for themselves, but a struggle for their ancestors who might live to mourn what was lost, and, as readers, we can only hope in their succeeding.
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