The Indigenous Perception

I wrote this for the Panama PCV written and edited triannual magazine. Some references made might be Panama specific, and you might need to translate some Spanish, but I thought it would be an interesting Panamanian perspective.

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The Indigenous Perception

I walk through the streets of Panama and often I don’t feel very Panamanian. It might be my blondish hair, light freckled skin, and blue eyes like a muñeca. That can’t be it, because when I don a nagua and hike the hills of the Comarca Ngobe-Bugle I feel like I could be painted into the environment. My close friends and neighbors don’t stare anymore.   I’ve morphed into not one of them, but this weird creature who they’ve all come to accept. Yet I must grip every culture of Panama, as part of my holistic experience here.

The indigenous and non-indigenous relationship is complex in every formerly colonized or inquired country. The relationship is apparent in the US. Struggling indigenously identifying groups of Americans are a norm. Barely culpable latter generations of Americans of European decent offer criticism but no solutions. How do we get along in the my great-great-great grandfather killed your great-great-great grandfather and took his land now poverty and genetic disposition have you jobless and addicted to alcohol but we’re all AM-ericans as I cheer at a Chiefs or Braves or Blackhawks sporting event? Somehow we sleep.

It’s different in Panama, but with the same undercurrent. What are camposinos in northern Coclé but indigenous who have forgotten their dialecto? The dark skin is the give-away that everyone in Panama is but a few generations removed from being indigenous. Yet Latino identifying Panamanians are much more progressed in civil development.

After being here for over a half I have encountered Latinos of every school of thought concerning the indigenous. First, there was the woman seated in the rear of a car that picked me up to drive down the road to the beach at Juan Hombrón to meet a friend. The two Panamanians in the front seats and I chatted graciously during the bumpy ride. Eventually I told them what I did, working with water and sanitation in the Comarca. That is when my seat partner set into a tirade about what lazy, disgusting people the indios were. The government just gives them land, while other Panamanians have to work for what is theirs. I wanted to give her a quick history lesson about land rights, but didn’t want to spoil the free ride. She ended with, “Soy racista, no me gustan los morenos ni indios”.

Not long ago I was in the bus terminal in Chitré with a friend visiting from the states. We bumped into another volunteer a week away from COSing. I went to use the restroom and when I walked up to my friend and the volunteer after, I overheard him telling her about the Guna Yala and pointing to a woman in a Nägua. At first I was confused, and then I realized he didn’t know the different in appearance between the two indigenous groups. Granted, this volunteer worked in the Azuero – but two years in Panama and he didn’t know the difference between a fierce looking little Guna woman and a humble Ngäbe?

Finally, during a trip on the Azuero I met a young man who owned a watermelon farm (Sandy the Sandia he told me) and employed many Ngäbes. He immediately commented on what hard working people they were and had many stories about how he treats them fairly and compassionately. I told him what a relief his perspective was for me to hear, and he reasoned that many Panamanians have forgotten their true heritage.

Everyone has an opinion about the protests concerning the mining and hydroelectric projects. Some are sympathetic and say that it is right for the indigenous to protect their environment. Others think that the indigenous should take advantage of their fortunate pot-of-goal and use it as leverage. Still others think they are wild and misbehaved and nothing else.

Of course I have a soft spot for the indigenous because I understand them. I see their struggles up close. I laugh with them, they are my friends. I shake my head at their backward behavior and pity the rut that is caused by lack of education. But I also see their lucha to feed their children, develop their society and yet preserve their culture. Development has forced so many indigenous groups around the world to leave their culture behind. Sustainable development that preserves culture and makes technological advances is being fleshed out in this moment with us. I hope as the indigenous here in Panama become increasingly developed they can cultivate their strong roots and grow respect from their paisanos and the world.