Mindful of Famine

Book excerpt: Comprising nearly 30,000 individuals, the Warao of the Orinoco Delta in northeastern Venezuela are one of the largest contemporary Indian societies of Amazonia. Survival under the extreme ecological conditions of the deltaic marshland, however, demands of its occupants exceptional adaptive agility and an affirmative disposition toward acculturative change. In Mindful of Famine, Johannes Wilbert presents the Warao's response to the climatological challenge of their homeland, deftly weaving the strands of geographic, atmospheric, biological, and cultural lore and learning into a rich tapestry of environmental wisdom.