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Until the 1960´s the Shuar people were known as the most warlike Indian tribe in South America due to their much feared tradition of making shrunken heads (tsantsas) of their enemies. Traditionally the Shuar lived in small clusters of semi-nomadic households, living from subsistence farming, hunting and fishing.

However, increased contact with missionaries and settlers from the highlands forced the Shuar to change their lifestyle from nomads to living in a fixed settlement and organize themselves in their common struggle for the land and the forest.

The life of the Shuar is strongly connected to their natural environment, as they consider life an integral part of nature, and dreams and omens are relied heavily upon to plan of the following day. Supernatural beings, gods and the position of the stars and the moon control the circle of life and wild and cultivated products. The wild is represented by spirits connected to the hunt and fishing like Etsa (the sun) and Nantu (the moon) and the cultivated lands are the place where Nunkui, the goddess of agriculture is present.

The Shuar still rely on subsistence faming, hunting, fishing and gathering of different fruits and insects. The Shuar women are knowledgeable gardeners, having different sacred songs (anent) for the welfare of the cultivated plants and call on the help of Nunkui. The crops grown are mainly: plantain, sweet manioc, sweet potato, taro, white corn, squash, peanuts, sugar cane, bananas, pineapples, small onions, papaya and chonta palm.

Gender roles are generally that the men hunt, fish, clear forest and cut wood. The women cultivate the land, cook, care for the children and animals, and make manioc beer (Chicha or nijiamanch). The manioc beer is central to Shuar life, as it is a dietary stable, a social tie, a work incentive, and a symbol of female productivity. The Shuar Indians in the Ecuadorian Amazon today number approximately 100,000 individuals spread among 668 communities, and they are among the best organized indigenous people.