Pineapple Among the Indigenous Nambikwara: Early Twentieth Century Photographic Documentation from Central Brazil

Abstract

In the region that is today Brazil, presence of pineapple in the food of Indigenous peoples was noted early by the Portuguese and other European explorers, who described the presence of the plant in Indigenous gardens and around villages along the Atlantic coast and in the interior. The objective of this paper is to contribute to the ethnobotany and history of pineapple in South America, particularly Central Brazil, based on the first known photographic documentation of the use of pineapple in the diet of an Indigenous society: the Nambikwara in the northwestern region of the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The pineapple’s presence in Nambikwara villages immediately caught the attention of the early explorers and fermented Nambikwara “pineapple wine” enjoyed enormous success. The photographic record presented here was produced on the occasion of one of the first scientific expeditions sponsored by the Brazilian government in the early twentieth century, the Commission for the Construction of Telegraph Lines from Mato Grosso to Amazonas (better known as the “Rondon Commission”). All photos presented here were taken by Major Thomas Reis during a visit to the Nambikwara-Mamaindê village, in the Cabixi River region, in northern Mato Grosso, during the expedition undertaken from 1913 to 1914. They show many details of how pineapples (Ananas ananassoides) are processed, including the familiar setting of a child playing beside her working mother. As these four images suggest, unexplored archival materials offer great potential for conducting visual historical ethnobotanical studies of topics that are otherwise invisible in the academic record.

Ethnobotany and conservation applications in the Noken making by the Sougb Tribe of West Papua, Indonesia

“…Nenas putih was stated as probably native to this area, although this is unlikely due to the origin of the Ananas species in South America, as noted above (D'Eeckenbrugge and Govaerts 2015). However, improved taxonomic study is needed to describe and fully identify the species, as the taxonomy of Ananas is complex (Coimbra et al 2020;D'Eeckenbrugge and Govaerts 2015). Pineapple plant habitats are generally located near settlements, and they are harvested mostly from swidden fields and fallows and also, but fewer, from home gardens.…”

Ethnobotanical identification of mango (Mangifera indica L.) and other fruit trees mentioned in Old Javanese Ramayana (10th century Java, Indonesia)

“…The potential use of historical texts for ethnobotanical studies has generated renewed interest in the relationship between human and plants (Fatur 2019;Coimbra and Welch 2020;Petran et al 2020;Liu et al 2021). These texts are not only considered important as sources for obtaining information highlighting the relationship between the people of a particular area and their botanic environment in the past, but also demonstrate the continuity and change of traditional knowledge about plants (Pardo-de-Santayana et al 2007; Kalle and Soukand 2012;Castro et al 2013;Silva et al 2014;Herrero and Cardano 2015;Rahman et al 2019;Petran et al 2020;Ford 2020;Dafni et al 2021;Saraci and Damo 2021).…”

Ethnobotanical Analysis of Phytonyms and Plant-Related Glosses Mentioned in Bujangga Manik, a Pre-Islamic Sundanese Text (15th Century Java, Indonesia)

“…The recognition of the ever-changing nature of these interrelationships has sparked a renewed interest among ethnobotanists in exploring the historical anthropobotanical connections. This interest has been fueled by the prospect of using historical documents as valuable resources for conducting ethnobotanical studies (Castro et al, 2013;Silva et al, 2014;Alves & Ming, 2015;Fatur, 2019;Svanberg et al, 2019;Petran et al, 2020;Coimbra & Welch, 2020;Ford, 2020;Dafni et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2021;Saraci & Damo, 2021). The renewal of interest is generated because exploring information within historical documents promotes a chronological perspective on the development of plant usage.…”