Population, Language and Subsistence
The population is estimated to be roughly 4,000 people in this tribe. They have been notably known for their extravagant treehouses in which they subside in gatherings of maybe 12 or so people to each. The Korowai have also been known to be the last tribal/indigenous group to partake in cannibalism. The language is just called "the Language of Korowai". To survive you need shelter, food and water. For shelter they live in treehouses as high up as 35m in the trees in the jungle to avoid disaster from the floods and the many insects that inhabit the wet area. They also claim that it is a defense mechanism against enemies. 'The higher the house, the greater the prestige" (Raffaele 2013). For food they hunt nearby animals and eat plants that have either grown wild in the area or that they have planted. Most indigenous tribes settle near areas of water since they obviously need that to survive so this tribe has a river called the Becking River and that is where most of the tribesmen get their water from.
Raffaele, Paul. "Sleeping with Cannibals." Smithsonian. Accessed October 29, 2013. Raffaele.
My Reflection: This article that I read was quite a lot of pages and a very informative first hand experience of this man visiting the Korowai tribe. I found it extremely interesting. The article was centered around his research of cannibalism since they are rumored to be the only tribe/group left to practice cannibalism. Raffaele did say that they denied it at first and others flaunted it and he wasn't sure if it was a "show" for the outsiders but that he believed it was still being practiced.
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