Kayapó history

AI note: sections-wave1-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayapo, https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayap%C3%B3_language, https://kayapo.org/the-kayapo-project/, https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/amazon/239438.html, https://terrasindigenas.org.br/pt-br/terras-indigenas/3952). Sensitivity: Population is contested: 9,762 (Siasi/Sesai 2014, via ISA), 8,638 (2018, English Wikipedia), and roughly 12,000 cited by Kayapó organizations and Funbio; different counting frames, so a range is given. Kayapó is an exonym applied by neighbouring peoples and glossed as 'those who look like monkeys' — it is in official use but Mẽbêngôkre is the self-designation and should be preferred. Ceremonial knowledge, naming-festival content and the meanings of specific body-paint designs are restricted and are not described. One English source dates the Altamira anti-dam gathering to 1987; the well-documented date is February 1989. Paulinho Paiakan (d. 2020) is a contested public figure: an internationally prominent organizer who was also the subject of a widely reported 1992 criminal accusation; the archive names his organizing role only. The Xikrin are frequently counted and described as a separate people. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: sections-wave1-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayapo, https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayap%C3%B3_language, https://kayapo.org/the-kayapo-project/, https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/amazon/239438.html, https://terrasindigenas.org.br/pt-br/terras-indigenas/3952). Sensitivity: Population is contested: 9,762 (Siasi/Sesai 2014, via ISA), 8,638 (2018, English Wikipedia), and roughly 12,000 cited by Kayapó organizations and Funbio; different counting frames, so a range is given. Kayapó is an exonym applied by neighbouring peoples and glossed as 'those who look like monkeys' — it is in official use but Mẽbêngôkre is the self-designation and should be preferred. Ceremonial knowledge, naming-festival content and the meanings of specific body-paint designs are restricted and are not described. One English source dates the Altamira anti-dam gathering to 1987; the well-documented date is February 1989. Paulinho Paiakan (d. 2020) is a contested public figure: an internationally prominent organizer who was also the subject of a widely reported 1992 criminal accusation; the archive names his organizing role only. The Xikrin are frequently counted and described as a separate people. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: sections-wave1-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayapo, https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayap%C3%B3_language, https://kayapo.org/the-kayapo-project/, https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/amazon/239438.html, https://terrasindigenas.org.br/pt-br/terras-indigenas/3952). Sensitivity: Population is contested: 9,762 (Siasi/Sesai 2014, via ISA), 8,638 (2018, English Wikipedia), and roughly 12,000 cited by Kayapó organizations and Funbio; different counting frames, so a range is given. Kayapó is an exonym applied by neighbouring peoples and glossed as 'those who look like monkeys' — it is in official use but Mẽbêngôkre is the self-designation and should be preferred. Ceremonial knowledge, naming-festival content and the meanings of specific body-paint designs are restricted and are not described. One English source dates the Altamira anti-dam gathering to 1987; the well-documented date is February 1989. Paulinho Paiakan (d. 2020) is a contested public figure: an internationally prominent organizer who was also the subject of a widely reported 1992 criminal accusation; the archive names his organizing role only. The Xikrin are frequently counted and described as a separate people. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: sections-wave1-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayapo, https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayap%C3%B3_language, https://kayapo.org/the-kayapo-project/, https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/amazon/239438.html, https://terrasindigenas.org.br/pt-br/terras-indigenas/3952). Sensitivity: Population is contested: 9,762 (Siasi/Sesai 2014, via ISA), 8,638 (2018, English Wikipedia), and roughly 12,000 cited by Kayapó organizations and Funbio; different counting frames, so a range is given. Kayapó is an exonym applied by neighbouring peoples and glossed as 'those who look like monkeys' — it is in official use but Mẽbêngôkre is the self-designation and should be preferred. Ceremonial knowledge, naming-festival content and the meanings of specific body-paint designs are restricted and are not described. One English source dates the Altamira anti-dam gathering to 1987; the well-documented date is February 1989. Paulinho Paiakan (d. 2020) is a contested public figure: an internationally prominent organizer who was also the subject of a widely reported 1992 criminal accusation; the archive names his organizing role only. The Xikrin are frequently counted and described as a separate people. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: audit-fix: naming a plant used in fishing is description; naming which part of it, how it is processed, or in what quantity is instruction. The Kayapo passage gave the plant part and the method, the Ashaninka passage gave a measured dose. Both are removed and the fishing technique is still named, which is what a reader needs to understand the economy.

AI note: sections-wave1-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayapo, https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayap%C3%B3_language, https://kayapo.org/the-kayapo-project/, https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/amazon/239438.html, https://terrasindigenas.org.br/pt-br/terras-indigenas/3952). Sensitivity: Population is contested: 9,762 (Siasi/Sesai 2014, via ISA), 8,638 (2018, English Wikipedia), and roughly 12,000 cited by Kayapó organizations and Funbio; different counting frames, so a range is given. Kayapó is an exonym applied by neighbouring peoples and glossed as 'those who look like monkeys' — it is in official use but Mẽbêngôkre is the self-designation and should be preferred. Ceremonial knowledge, naming-festival content and the meanings of specific body-paint designs are restricted and are not described. One English source dates the Altamira anti-dam gathering to 1987; the well-documented date is February 1989. Paulinho Paiakan (d. 2020) is a contested public figure: an internationally prominent organizer who was also the subject of a widely reported 1992 criminal accusation; the archive names his organizing role only. The Xikrin are frequently counted and described as a separate people. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: sections-wave1-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayapo, https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayap%C3%B3_language, https://kayapo.org/the-kayapo-project/, https://americanindian.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/amazon/239438.html, https://terrasindigenas.org.br/pt-br/terras-indigenas/3952). Sensitivity: Population is contested: 9,762 (Siasi/Sesai 2014, via ISA), 8,638 (2018, English Wikipedia), and roughly 12,000 cited by Kayapó organizations and Funbio; different counting frames, so a range is given. Kayapó is an exonym applied by neighbouring peoples and glossed as 'those who look like monkeys' — it is in official use but Mẽbêngôkre is the self-designation and should be preferred. Ceremonial knowledge, naming-festival content and the meanings of specific body-paint designs are restricted and are not described. One English source dates the Altamira anti-dam gathering to 1987; the well-documented date is February 1989. Paulinho Paiakan (d. 2020) is a contested public figure: an internationally prominent organizer who was also the subject of a widely reported 1992 criminal accusation; the archive names his organizing role only. The Xikrin are frequently counted and described as a separate people. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: sections-wave2-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://smarthistory.org/kayapo-headdress/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7841757/, http://www.brazzil.com/p16dec96.htm, https://www.anais.ueg.br/index.php/cepe/article/download/7646/5177). Sensitivity: Withheld on protocol grounds: the internal content, staging and sequence of the twelve naming festivals; the names conferred and the criteria for conferring them; the song texts and recitatives attached to naming ceremonies; and the meanings of body-paint designs, which are frequently published elsewhere as decoded symbol lists and are treated here as held knowledge. In the medicine section no preparation, plant part, dose or method is given for any species; plants are named only as being used in healing contexts, and the section states that detailed knowledge is the community's intellectual property. The pottery section flags, rather than resolves, the archaeological dispute over whether Jê 'absence of ceramics' is an evidential finding or a colonial framing. The Body Shop benefit-sharing dispute is reported as contested, with the company's rejection of the criticism noted. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: sections-wave2-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://smarthistory.org/kayapo-headdress/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7841757/, http://www.brazzil.com/p16dec96.htm, https://www.anais.ueg.br/index.php/cepe/article/download/7646/5177). Sensitivity: Withheld on protocol grounds: the internal content, staging and sequence of the twelve naming festivals; the names conferred and the criteria for conferring them; the song texts and recitatives attached to naming ceremonies; and the meanings of body-paint designs, which are frequently published elsewhere as decoded symbol lists and are treated here as held knowledge. In the medicine section no preparation, plant part, dose or method is given for any species; plants are named only as being used in healing contexts, and the section states that detailed knowledge is the community's intellectual property. The pottery section flags, rather than resolves, the archaeological dispute over whether Jê 'absence of ceramics' is an evidential finding or a colonial framing. The Body Shop benefit-sharing dispute is reported as contested, with the company's rejection of the criticism noted. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: sections-wave2-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://smarthistory.org/kayapo-headdress/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7841757/, http://www.brazzil.com/p16dec96.htm, https://www.anais.ueg.br/index.php/cepe/article/download/7646/5177). Sensitivity: Withheld on protocol grounds: the internal content, staging and sequence of the twelve naming festivals; the names conferred and the criteria for conferring them; the song texts and recitatives attached to naming ceremonies; and the meanings of body-paint designs, which are frequently published elsewhere as decoded symbol lists and are treated here as held knowledge. In the medicine section no preparation, plant part, dose or method is given for any species; plants are named only as being used in healing contexts, and the section states that detailed knowledge is the community's intellectual property. The pottery section flags, rather than resolves, the archaeological dispute over whether Jê 'absence of ceramics' is an evidential finding or a colonial framing. The Body Shop benefit-sharing dispute is reported as contested, with the company's rejection of the criticism noted. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: sections-wave2-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://smarthistory.org/kayapo-headdress/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7841757/, http://www.brazzil.com/p16dec96.htm, https://www.anais.ueg.br/index.php/cepe/article/download/7646/5177). Sensitivity: Withheld on protocol grounds: the internal content, staging and sequence of the twelve naming festivals; the names conferred and the criteria for conferring them; the song texts and recitatives attached to naming ceremonies; and the meanings of body-paint designs, which are frequently published elsewhere as decoded symbol lists and are treated here as held knowledge. In the medicine section no preparation, plant part, dose or method is given for any species; plants are named only as being used in healing contexts, and the section states that detailed knowledge is the community's intellectual property. The pottery section flags, rather than resolves, the archaeological dispute over whether Jê 'absence of ceramics' is an evidential finding or a colonial framing. The Body Shop benefit-sharing dispute is reported as contested, with the company's rejection of the criticism noted. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: sections-wave2-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://smarthistory.org/kayapo-headdress/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7841757/, http://www.brazzil.com/p16dec96.htm, https://www.anais.ueg.br/index.php/cepe/article/download/7646/5177). Sensitivity: Withheld on protocol grounds: the internal content, staging and sequence of the twelve naming festivals; the names conferred and the criteria for conferring them; the song texts and recitatives attached to naming ceremonies; and the meanings of body-paint designs, which are frequently published elsewhere as decoded symbol lists and are treated here as held knowledge. In the medicine section no preparation, plant part, dose or method is given for any species; plants are named only as being used in healing contexts, and the section states that detailed knowledge is the community's intellectual property. The pottery section flags, rather than resolves, the archaeological dispute over whether Jê 'absence of ceramics' is an evidential finding or a colonial framing. The Body Shop benefit-sharing dispute is reported as contested, with the company's rejection of the criticism noted. Awaiting contributor and community review.

AI note: sections-wave2-2026-08: compiled with AI assistance as original prose from cited public sources (https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Mebeng%C3%B4kre_(Kayap%C3%B3), https://smarthistory.org/kayapo-headdress/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7841757/, http://www.brazzil.com/p16dec96.htm, https://www.anais.ueg.br/index.php/cepe/article/download/7646/5177). Sensitivity: Withheld on protocol grounds: the internal content, staging and sequence of the twelve naming festivals; the names conferred and the criteria for conferring them; the song texts and recitatives attached to naming ceremonies; and the meanings of body-paint designs, which are frequently published elsewhere as decoded symbol lists and are treated here as held knowledge. In the medicine section no preparation, plant part, dose or method is given for any species; plants are named only as being used in healing contexts, and the section states that detailed knowledge is the community's intellectual property. The pottery section flags, rather than resolves, the archaeological dispute over whether Jê 'absence of ceramics' is an evidential finding or a colonial framing. The Body Shop benefit-sharing dispute is reported as contested, with the company's rejection of the criticism noted. Awaiting contributor and community review.