Item Records

This page shows all the information we have about this item. Both the institution that physically holds this item, and RRN members have contributed the knowledge on this page. You’re looking at the item record provided by the holding institution. If you scroll further down the page, you’ll see the information from RRN members, and can share your own knowledge too.

The RRN processes the information it receives from each institution to make it more readable and easier to search. If you’re doing in-depth research on this item, be sure to take a look at the Data Source tab to see the information exactly as it was provided by the institution.

These records are easy to share because each has a unique web address. You can copy and paste the location from your browser’s address bar into an email, word document, or chat message to share this item with others.

  • Data
  • Data Source

This information was automatically generated from data provided by MOA: University of British Columbia. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Description

Bowl shaped basket decorated with three black horizontal bands with black dots in between. The upper band is just below the rim, the other two are on the round base. The inside is undecorated.

Specific Techniques

Yanomami baskets are made by women, and are made from mamure palm fibre (Heteropsis spruceana). The darker pigments used for the designs are usually made from annatto (urucum), from the smashed berries of the Bixa orellana plant, or sometimes with masticated charcoal. This shoto or tray is painted with a mixture of charcoal and the juice of the jenipapo fruit (Genipa americana).

Iconographic Meaning

The dots represent humans while the concentric circles are symbolic depictions of the world, each with a village at its centre.

Narrative

The Yanomami are a hunter-agriculturist people who live in a northern Amazon area located on both sides of the border between Brazil and Venezuela, in the Orinoco-Amazon interfluvial region. The Yanomami had little contact with people other than neighbouring indigenous groups until the 20th century. Since the 1970s they have faced significant changes. On the Brazilian side of their territory, the Terra Indígena Yanomami was established in 1992 in the face of near-genocide. To this day, almost 60 percent of Yanomami territory is covered by mineral applications and title deeds registered in the National Department of Mineral Production in Brazil by public and private mining companies, both national and multinational. Colonization projects, implemented in the 1970s and ’80s in the east and southeast of Yanomami lands, also created a wave of land occupations that are still expanding. In addition, three military bases have been installed in Yanomami territory since 1985, leading to serious social problems among the local populations. Recently, the Yanomami created the Hutukara Yanomami Association to advocate for their rights in managing their territory and responding to the various threats to their land, in partnership with several other organizations and the states of Venezuela and Brazil.

Item History

With an account, you can ask other users a question about this item. Request an Account

With an account, you can submit information about this item and have it visible to all users and institutions on the RRN. Request an Account

Similar Items