Stunning photos of how tribes around the world are approaching modernity
Over the last century, tribes are being driven from their lands and traditions, and forced to embrace a majoritarian view of life. They are now in varying stages of reconciliation with ‘us’, the outsi
SudanA cattle herder from the Dinka tribe carries a weathered AK-47 rifle to protect his Zebu cows from cattle raiders near Rumbek in central South Sudan. After being embroiled in a decades-old civil war that has claimed over 2 million lives, the nomads have continued their age-old conflict with other cattle-keeping tribes. Armed raids to steal cows from the herds of enemy tribes have bee
Image by Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
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BoliviaDanish chef Claus Meyer (left) eats a typical Bolivian dish called ‘falso conejo’ (faux rabbit), prepared by ethnic Aymara cook Isidora Ascencio (right), who works at IBIS, a Danish NGO that supports indigenous organisations, in La Paz, Bolivia. In 2011 Meyer, chef and co-founder of the Noma restaurant in Copenhagen (voted the the world’s best restaurant many times) was in Bolivia
Image by David Mercado
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BrazilB. Munduruku Indian warriors hunt and detain an illegal gold miner in their territory in Para state. Seeing their land encroached upon by wildcat miners in search of gold, the Munduruku decide to take the law into their own hands, rather than wait for a court’s decision that could take years. The tribe’s leaders had travelledto the country’s capital earlier to demand the federal gov
Image by Lunae Parracho
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USAMembers of the Canupawakpa Dakota Nation Unity Riders, of the Sioux Native American tribe, are photographed outside the United Nations offices after arriving on horseback in commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in Manhattan, New York. The Riders made their way on horseback from Mantioba in Canada to New York, which they say is their native homeland,
Image by Adrees Latif / Reuters
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Tibet In 2017, Aj Namo became the first Tibetan fashion designer to show at China Fashion Week in Beijing. But when the organisers offered her China’s well-known models, she declined. Instead, she selected young Tibetans from her hometown of Kangba, a small grassland township in western Sichuan, near Tibet. Seeing herself as an ambassador for Tibetan culture in Beijing, Namo wants to chan
Image by Jason Lee / Reuters
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MongoliaA Kazakh eagle hunter with his golden eagle at a ger, a portable dwelling near the city of Ölgii in western Mongolia. The Kazakhs of western Mongolia are known for hunting with eagles, and each year, between February and April, around 200 families make the 150 km trip across the Altai Mountains, in temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius on their spring nomadic migration, that ha
Image by Wolfgang Kaehler
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EthiopiaA Bodi tribesman sports DVDs as earrings during a Ka’el ceremony—observed during the tribe’s New Year celebrations in June—in Omo Valley, Ethiopia. The ceremony measures the body fat of the male contestant, and honours the fattest winner with fame and adulation of the tribe.
Image by Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images
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KenyaSonyanga Olengais (left), captain of the Maasai Cricket Warriors, talks to his teammate Mamai Simon Papai during their T20 match against the Ambassadors of Cricket from India in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia National Park, in 2013. The Maasai Cricket Warriors are role models in their communities, where they actively campaign against retrogressive and harmful cultural practices, s
Image by Thomas Mukoya / Reuters
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New ZealandAn indigenous man from the Gavião tribe receives a greeting from a Maori woman from New Zealand during the closing ceremony of the first World Games for Indigenous Peoples in Palmas, Brazil, in 2015. “We’re not looking to crown champions or find great athletes,” says Carlos Terena, organiser of the event. “This isn’t about competition, it’s about celebration. Competition is mor
