We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of my People

Summary

FROM A FEARLESS, INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed activist comes an impassioned memoir about an Indigenous childhood, a clash of cultures, and the fight to protect the Amazon rainforest.

Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest—one of the last to be contacted by missionaries in the 1950s—Nemonte Nenquimo had a singular upbringing. She was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. At age fourteen, she left the forest for the first time to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. Eventually, her ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture. She listened.

Two decades later, Nemonte has emerged as one of the most forceful voices in climate-change activism. She has spearheaded the alliance of Indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and led her people to a landmark victory against Big Oil, protecting more than a half million acres of primary rainforest. Her message is as sharp as a spear—honed by her experiences battling loggers, miners, oil companies, and missionaries. In We Will Be Jaguars, she partners with her partner, Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines, digging into generations of oral history, uprooting centuries of conquest, hacking away at racist notions of Indigenous peoples, and ultimately revealing a life story as rich, harsh, and vital as the Amazon rainforest herself.

“Nemonte’s writing is as provocative as it is inspiring, a heroine speaking her truth, which is exactly what we need to hear. Had we listened long ago to these voices, we wouldn’t be in the eye of the storm now. “—Emma Thompson, actor and writer