The Waiwai Indigenous peoples are a complex of distinct groups that inhabit a vast region between both sides of the Serra do Acaraí, on the border between Brazil and Guyana. Until about 70 years ago they lived in collective houses and were united by various relationships. The languages they spoke varied from one another, with differences ranging from dialects of a single language to distinct linguistic families. The process of agglomeration that began with missionary contact resulted in socio-cultural transformations, present in the political and cosmological discourses that currently underlie Waiwai ethnic identity. Missionaries referred to this process as "evangelization", while anthropologists called it waiwaization.

With the support of NGOs (e.g., Instituto Iepé and Instituto Socioambiental), the Waiwai developed a Territorial and Environmental Management Plan and a Consultation Protocol, which were approved in 2019. However, with recent policy changes by the previous Brazilian government, indigenous lands suffered economic exploitation, and the Amazon forest became vulnerable to loggers, farmers, and miners.