The BANIWA LIVING SCHOOL is located in the northwest of the Amazon, in the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Territory, in the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira-AM. In this region live 23 peoples of different languages, cultures and religions, forming the most indigenous territory in Brazil.

The Living School is a great achievement for the Baniwa people and was born out of six years' work researching and writing the book Umbigo do Mundo [Navel of the world], written by Francy Baniwa in dialogue with her father, Francisco Luiz Fontes Baniwa (Matsaape), the narrator of the traditional oral stories, and with her brother Frank Fontes Baniwa (Hipattairi), the author of the 74 watercolors created for the book.

Francisco Luiz Fontes and Francy Baniwa

According to our ancient culture, we are the legacy left by Heeko, a demiurge, on Stone-land, the center of humanity's formation and origin, located in Hiipana (Eeno Hiepolekoa or navel of the world) in Uapuí-Cachoeira, on the Ayari River. It was in this place that humanity, particularly the Baniwa people, their clans, and their territories, emerged. From our gods, we inherited a vast stretch of land, delimited by a set of markers (petroglyphs) that define the territory of each clan of our people from immemorial time. These historical and ancestral demarcations allow for control, governance, and environmental management in our territory. Our land is our center of the world, from which we know how to locate ourselves in relation to the four corners of the earth. Every day when we wake up, it is from here that we know where the sun will rise, the path it will take, and where it will set. It is where our spirit and soul are anchored, from our ancestors to the present day and onwards. For us, indigenous people, the Earth is part of a complex universe, which we call Hekoapi, divided into various layers, each inhabited by specific beings, gods, and spirits. Earth is the central portion, the middle of the worlds. It is from here that we, indigenous people, acquire our knowledge and relate to the other layers. For us, Earth is like a mother who cares for her children from conception, cares at birth, cares during growth, cares in adulthood, cares during old age, and cares again when life comes to an end. She cares until we return again to the earth. That is why we have a relationship of great respect with the land.
Francy Baniwa

The Baniwa Living School is the realization of the collective dream to strengthen knowledge transmission. The elders are the pillars and source of wisdom within the community and we aspire to learn from them. The Living School aims to value the Nheengatu and Baniwa languages, working to raise awareness of the importance of oral tradition and to ensure that indigenous languages are never lost. These languages carry within them rich knowledge about life and nature. Francy explains that "it also paves the way to share with the world our way of thinking and caring for our forest, our home.”

Thematic Axes:

1. Baniwa Arts: crafting of arumã fibre baskets, crafting of musical instruments,
fishing and hunting tools, and weaving (with tucum fibre)
2. Musicalities: songs, dances, and musical performances.
3. Strengthening of the Baniwa and Nheengatu languages.
4. Healing Practices: transmission of verbal arts of healing and care.
5. Medicinal Plants.
6. Visual Arts, Audiovisual, and Photography.
7. Construction of a Cultural Centre (long-term project).

Coordinators:

FRANCISCO LUIZ FONTES BANIWA
Francisco is from the Waliperedakeenai clan, born in the Ucuqui Cachoeira community along the Uaraná River, a tributary of the Ayari River within the Içana River basin. Known as "maadzero" — meaning 'wise' in the Baniwa language — he is a master of dances, songs, musical instruments, storytelling, healing practices, and craftsmanship. These skills were passed down to him by his father, uncles, and grandfathers from the Waliperedakeenai and Hohoodeni clans. A polyglot, he narrates the book Umbigo do Mundo [Navel of the World]. He learned Baniwa and Koripako languages in his childhood and started learning Nheengatu from his father. He also understands Kubeo due to his maternal grandmother. Besides Portuguese and Spanish, he picked up Wanano during his travels and became fluent in Nheengatu after settling and marrying in Assunção during his youth.

FRANCY BANIWA
Francineia Bitencourt Fontes (Francy Baniwa) is an indigenous woman, anthropologist, photographer, and researcher of the Baniwa people, from the Waliperedakeenai clan. She was born in the Assunção community, along the Lower Içana River, in the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Land, municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, in the Amazonas state. Engaged in indigenous organizations and the indigenous movement of the Rio Negro for a decade, she works and researches in the areas of indigenous ethnology, gender, indigenous organizations, traditional knowledge, memory, narrative, photography, and audiovisual production. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology (2016) from the Federal University of Amazonas. She earned her Master's degree (2019) and is currently a doctoral candidate in Social Anthropology at the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPGAS-MN/UFRJ). She is the director of the documentary Kupixá asui peé itá — A roça e seus caminhos, released in 2020. Currently, she coordinates the pioneering ecological project for the production of cloth sanitary pads "Amaronai Itá – Kunhaitá Kitiwara," funded by the Indigenous Fund of the Rio Negro (FIRN/FOIRN), aimed at empowering and ensuring menstrual dignity for women in the Alto Rio Negro indigenous territory. She is the author of the book Umbigo do Mundo, based on the narrations of her father, Francisco Fontes Baniwa, and illustrated by her brother, Frank Fontes Baniwa, published by Dantes Editora in 2023.

The watercolor painting work by Frank Baniwa for the book Umbigo do Mundo is one of the expressions of the Baniwa Living School. They are drawings of the narratives of the elders, expressing the transmission of Baniwa culture.