Saving Jungle Souls > Comments > "Beautifully produced, unfortunately one-sided"
Piece Comment
Commenter Profile
- Anna Magarian
- Username: annamagarian
- Location: Santa Monica, California
- Joined PRX: Aug 30, 2011
Piece Information
- "Saving Jungle Souls"
- Summary: A nomadic chief leaves the Bolivian jungle to live with evangelical missionaries.
2 comments
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Beautifully produced, unfortunately one-sided
Anna Magarian
Posted on August 30, 2011 at 06:43 PM
This is a beautifully produced, very compelling story of the missionization of a group of people in the Bolivian rainforest. Unfortunately, although the producer seemed to try to represent the Yukui people, only a single, converted, Yukui person is interviewed. He and his community are described using the relatively racist (paternalistic) terms that the missionaries themselves use. The Yukui are described as primitive, and are portrayed as benefitting from the destruction of the rainforest and the (relatively violent) imposition of Christianity. The story portrays only one side of the encounter, erasing the Yukui people's agency and intelligence, painting them as primitive heathens who were lucky to be yanked out of the forest and introduced to Jesus Christ.