Brazil 7,535 (2010) | Peru 2,419 (2007) | |
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The Kaxinawá, also known as the Kashinawa or Huni Kuin, are an indigenous people of Brazil and Peru. Their villages are located along the Purus and Curanja Rivers in Peru and the Tarauacá, Jordão, Breu, Muru, Envira, Humaitã, and Purus Rivers.
Contents
In the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, some Kaxinawá live on the Alto Purús Indigenous Territory with the Kulina people.
Name
The Kaxinawá are also known as the Cashinauá, Caxinauá, or Kashinawa people. This name come from kaxi or "bat" and nawa meaning "people" or "foreigners". Their autonym is Huni Kuin or "real men", from huni, "man", and kuin meaning "real."
Language
Kaxinawá people speak the Kaxinawá language, a Panoan language. They call their language Hancha Kuin, meaning "real words." Only 5% to 10% of the Kaxinawá in Peru speak Spanish and literacy rates are low.
Economy
Hunting is of paramount importance in Kaxinawá society. Kaxinawá also fish, gather plant foods, and grow crops through swidden, or slash-and-burn horticulture. Rice has become an export crop.
Women weave baskets, string bead jewelry, create utilitarian ceramics and weave hammocks and clothing. Men weave certain baskets, carve tools from wood, create featherwork and ceremonial regalia, and make canoes and weapons, such as clubs, spears, and bows and arrows. In hunting, shotguns are popular.