“The Falling Sky” by Davi Kopenawa O

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‘Our xapiri spirits travel very far, to the edges of the earth and sky. This is why our shamans have known the big lake the white people crossed for a very long time. They often made its image dance with those of the storm and whirlpool beings that populate it. (…) Our long-ago shamans were already talking about the white people long before they reached us in the forest! These outsiders did not discover this land! They arrived in it as visitors. (…) They claimed it was empty in order to take control of it. This same lie continues to this day. This land was never empty in the past and it is no more empty today! Our ancestors and those of all the inhabitants of the forest already lived here long before the white people arrived.’ Davi Kopenawa / Bruce Albert, THE FALLING SKY, 184-85. Discuss Davi Kopenawa’s claims in the above quote. Which are the assumptions about the ‘colonial encounter’ he is challenging here, and how would you assess his arguments especially with regard to current events such as global warming, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the looming energy and food crisis? Write a short, approximately 2 page (double-spaced) essay for each question you choose. You may include quotations from literary and critical readings but you don’t have to – when prompted to refer to texts or films, it’s fine for you to paraphrase or sum up in your own words those aspects you will be discussing.