2.1.5 Outside Influences: Cattle, Mining and the Cash Economy

The Wapishana have been in sustained contact with the outside world for over a century, and their lives are affected by numerous outside influences. Foremost of these in both duration and magnitude is cattle ranching, pioneered by the Scotsman Harry Melville who settled in the area in 1891, marrying two daughters of an Atorai chief [ARU 1992: 14]. Melville played a crucial and possibly beneficial role in mediating relations between the inhabitants of the south savannas and the colonial regime, hindering the permanent establishment of traders and missionaries, and providing what Farabee described as a "wholesome influence" [Farabee 1918: 15]. Nonetheless, Walter Roth, on returning to the villages of Sand Creek and Wawanawa in 1925, a decade after his first visit, noticed a dramatic drop in living standards, manifest in the prevalence of drink, neglect of agriculture, adoption of European-style dress, and declines in standards of personal hygiene since 'patent preparations have replaced good old crab oil'. This he attributed to growing involvement in the cash economy, particularly the balata industry [Roth 1929: vii-viii]. By 1952, both Macusi and Wapishana were reported to have abandoned many of their traditional activities, although the native languages had been largely retained [Evans & Meggers 1960: 323, 339-40].

The negative consequences of involvement in the cash economy aside, the Rupununi ranching industry has since its establishment provided employment, and more recently a means of independent livelihood, for Wapishana people. Despite the massive decline of the industry following the Rupununi uprising in early 1969, it continues to exert a profound effect on their lives. Cattle are reported to be kept in every Wapishana village, and a few individuals have set up as independent ranchers. The most enduring influence has been the ongoing conflict with the Rupununi Development Company, whose massive land holdings in the south-central savannas literally fenced in several Wapishana communities. For many years, the latter expressed resentment concerning the inadequacy of their own titled lands in providing sufficient grazing for their herds [ARU 1992: 14-18]. The decline of the RDC herd eventually led it to submit to requests to hand over some of its land holdings to South Rupununi communities, although the same has not occurred in the northern savanna [Colchester 1997: 48-9].

As in many other areas of Guyana, mining is an issue which is increasingly affecting the Amerindian people of the south Rupununi. Many young Wapishana men leave their native area in order to work as divers in mining operations in other parts of the country. Others are involved in prospecting locally, particularly in the gold-rich areas of Marudi and Bat mountains, to the south of Aishalton. In 1990 there were reported to be extensive camps of miners in these areas, dominated numerically by coastal Guyanese but also including significant numbers of Amerindian people. This had visible detrimental effects upon the lives of local people, in terms of rising food prices, long-term absenteeism of male heads of households, and the consequent neglect of farming activities [ARU 1992: 29]. The situation is likely to have deteriorated since this study, as incursions by Brazilian garimpeiros into the Marudi and Kanuku areas is reported to have increased following clampdowns by the Roraimense authorities against illegal mining activities [Forte 1997: 73]. More recently, a company called Romanex (Guyana) Exploration has begun development of a 50 square mile concession in the area, setting up an operation they themselves compare to the notorious OMAI gold mine. This will entail the construction of a feeder road connecting the area with the recently completed Georgetown-Boa Vista highway at Lethem, the consequences of which are hard to predict [Colchester 1997: 89]. Generally, the impact of expansion in the mining sector has rarely been beneficial for local Amerindian communities. The best studied Guyanese example is the Upper Mazaruni, where the observed effects include increased economic stratification, extensive environmental damage including pollution of water supplies, nutritional decline resulting from the neglect of subsistence activities and the consumption patterns associated with mining culture, and social impacts as young men and women become increasingly involved in the mining business, including the breakdown of traditional family systems and an increase in schoolgirl pregnancy [Forte 1997: 77-81].