Hauxita Jergeschew, a student of the M.A. Visual and Media Anthropology, already has her bags packed. She lived with indigenous peoples before her studies and will be joining in from the jungle in the coming winter semester thanks to distance learning. She told us more about her experiences in the rainforest and in the Andes here.
You have already lived with indigenous peoples for ten years and will now return to the Brazilian and Peruvian jungles in the coming winter semester while studying the distance learning M.A. Visual and Media Anthropology course. That sounds fantastic! Please tell us more about it!
Yes, I have called Peru my home for many years and have lived in the Andes, and that is where I will return in September. I want to spend some time with my indigenous friends in a remote Quechua community at about 5000 meters altitude: to sit down with them and exchange ideas, be inspired by their ways, learn more Quechua and remain open to what might arise from our time together. I want to focus on the practice of prayer.
After that, during the rainy season, I will return to the lowland jungle in northern Peru to meet a curandero (healer) with whom I worked for two years in complete isolation while subsisting on various medicinal plants. He is from the Vegetalista lineage, which means that his focus of healing work is entirely on the plant kingdom. For privacy and confidentiality reasons, I will not go into detail about my research project here.
Depending on the general travel situation in South America, I would also like to return to Brazil, where I have visited indigenous communities in the rainforest on several trips. I have not visited some of these friends since the pandemic began, for me it is time to return. I also have some projects going on with them. I would like to visit new communities and regions in Brazil, and as I already know, it is one thing to plan jungle adventures in advance and another to let the trip guide you: planning is not necessary, honestly. I also plan to venture into the jungles of Colombia and Guyana to prepare a future expedition to Mount Roraima/Tepuis. This place has been tempting me for years.
Can you tell us a little about how you discovered your research topic and how you came into contact with the indigenous peoples you lived with? What did you learn from this experience?
First of all, I didn’t discover a research topic at all. Ten years ago, for personal reasons, I decided to stay in the Peruvian rainforest to study medicinal plants in the Vegetalista tradition I mentioned earlier. This first experience in the jungle changed my life path in an unexpected way. During my longer stay in this region, I met other indigenous peoples and also started to learn the language: And so the story takes its course…
After a few years in the Peruvian jungle, I felt the need to go to the Brazilian jungle and spend time with indigenous communities there. Through universal guidance (there is no better description) and other circumstances, I first visited a Roman Catholic monastery in a Brazilian jungle town founded in the 1930s. There I met some representatives of the indigenous people who came to the monastery because they had been proselytized by these monks decades before. During my time at the monastery I also made contacts with the FUNAI agency, an entity created by the government to promote indigenous rights and advocate for their causes. This gave me more information about indigenous communities that I could visit and I decided to go to the Puyanawa people. There I met many more indigenous people from other communities on several occasions, whom I visited again and again. Over the years, research topics have arisen naturally, some of which I am currently working on and at the same time developing new ones.
To come to the second question: I am still learning and everything is still in flux. First of all, I have unlearned many things, and then I have learned many new things, from the teachings of the jungle, from Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the indigenous peoples with whom I have spent so much time.
Through my time in the Andes and the Amazon, I am able to understand myself better, get closer to my essence and - appreciate and continually internalize the teachings about and through community, sharing, communication, nature, ancestors, and traditional healing methods and rituals.
Hauxita Jergeschew
Why did you choose to study M.A. Visual and Media Anthropology?
I was looking for a way to connect everything that is important to me in a new way. This also relates to my life before the jungle and my journey over the last ten years. Broadly speaking, I come from a background of activism, art, research – and for the last 10 years I have brought community, education, healing practices and the environment into the field. I want to find my own language of expression – I am open to all media and ways available to me to do so. The decision to study VMA has opened a new door to inspiration for me.
What experiences/courses/projects during your studies do you think will benefit you most in your future career?
It is probably too early in my studies to answer this question adequately, as our second semester has only just begun. So far, I believe that experimentation, concentration, inspiration, exchange and self-exploration have already accompanied me on my way through the lectures and the discussions with our lecturers. The exchange with my fellow students is also of great value to me. I see the course and its results as an organic and ongoing development. The practical tasks are great and a great help in learning and creating.
What do you like most about your course/the course in general?
The great diversity of content, the commitment and scientific competence of our professors and the exchange with my incredibly talented fellow students: being challenged, being inspired and receiving support are part of my study experience that I value very much.
Hauxita Jergeschew
What advice do you have for (prospective) students who are thinking about studying Visual and Media Anthropology at the Media University?
What are you passionate about? What is your intention/vision for studying this course? The VMA offers a wide variety of content in a compact time frame. You can go as deep as you want with this course, anything is possible: I recommend surfing the wave as it comes, it will sometimes knock you over and become a profound adventure. Don’t forget to have fun, it’s a once in a lifetime journey, so enjoy the ride!
What are your plans for the future?
I intend to acquire land in the jungle, partly for conservation reasons, but also with the vision of creating a common place for cultural exchange between representatives of the indigenous population and visitors – under the umbrella of sustainability.
Beyond this specific project, I would of course like to explore as much of the jungle as possible!
Hauxita Jergeschew
A PhD is one option I am considering. In general, I would like to continue to raise awareness about the environmental and indigenous issues, which I believe are intertwined: through art, activism, collaborative projects, community building, exhibitions, filmmaking, speaking, research – whatever may serve the purpose.
Thank you for sharing your study experience with us. We wish you all the best for your future!
