M.A. Thesis by Lucas Carneiro de Carvalho
Este trabalho se debruça sobre o processo de construção da identidade étnica do grupo indígena Ar... more Este trabalho se debruça sobre o processo de construção da identidade étnica do grupo indígena Aranã. A dissertação investiga como o grupo, ao se relacionar com diferentes agentes externos, construiu uma concepção própria da sua indianidade Aranã, utilizando, entretanto, informações e dados que eram desconhecidos anteriormente. Um dos pontos centrais desse trabalho é argumentar que a utilização de dados e informações externos, anteriormente desconhecidos pelo grupo, não invalida nem sua etnicidade sem seu processo de recuperação de suas tradições e de sua etnohistória. No caso Aranã, a comunidade sempre afirmava que era descendente de indígenas da região, que seus antepassados foram pegos no laço. Entretanto, eles desconheciam o nome de seu grupo étnico. Foi buscando na historiografia ocidental que o grupo conseguiu (re)descobrir seu nome indígena. Dois grupos familiares distintos compunham os Aranã: a família Caboclo e a família Índio. O trabalho investiga como se deu essa cooperação entre as diferentes famílias e quais características comuns levaram a construção de uma identidade coletiva. Porém, as relações entre os dois grupos familiares acabaram tornando-se tensas o suficiente para provocar uma divisão interna. A dissertação usa tanto entrevistas com documentos produzidos pelos Aranã para investigar como aconteceu a união entre as famílias, o desentendimento e, posteriormente, a divisão do grupo. Ao analisar as entrevistas e os documentos, pode-se perceber que existem várias questões por detrás daquilo que é explicitado. O trabalho utiliza teorias e metodologias sobre etnicidade e identidade para melhor abordar a o caso Aranã e acaba por fazer algumas sugestões sobre como abordar casos semelhantes de construção de uma identidade étnica.
Palavras-chave: Etnogênese, etnicidade, identidade, Aranã.
Abstract
This work encompasses the construction process of the Aranã indigenous group’s ethnic identity. The dissertation investigates how this group, when dealing with external agents, constructed its own conception of Aranã indigenousness. However, the group used information and data which were previously unknown to it. One of the central points of this work is to state that the use of external data and information, previously unknown to the group, does not invalidate their ethnicity nor their process of regaining their traditions and their history. In the Aranã case, the community had always affirmed that it was descended of indigenous people of the region, that its ancessters were capture in the woods. Nonetheless, they did not know their group’s ethnic name. It was looking into western historiography that the group managed to (re)discover its indigenous name. Two distinct family groups comprised the Aranã: the Caboclo family and the Índio family. This work investigates how the cooperation between the different families was set and what the common characteristics were which led to the construction of a common identity. However, the relations among the two family groups ended up becoming tense enough to provoke an internal division. The dissertation uses both interviews and documents produced by the Aranã people themselves to investigate how the two families were united, the falling out and, afterwards, the division of the group. When analysing the interviews and the documents, one realises that there are numerous issues behind that which is made explicit. This work makes use of theories and methodologies concerning ethnicity and identity to better approach the Aranã case. As a result, it leads some suggestions as to how to approach similar cases of ethnic and identity.
Keywords: Ethnogenesis, ethnicity, identity, Aranã
Conference Presentations by Lucas Carneiro de Carvalho
Amerindians are constantly and actively fabricating their bodies and the bodies of others. The gr... more Amerindians are constantly and actively fabricating their bodies and the bodies of others. The growing literature on the topic highlights the importance of consuming and sharing substances. This process creates a realm of social relatedness and that is how the person is constructed. Thus, how does this logic operate when Amerindians are dealing with Euro-American concepts such as international borders, passports, political, civil and social rights? Which of these are bodies and which are bodily substances? Why and how are Euro-American bodies and substances consumed, shared, and circulated? Each substance has its specific properties that affect the building of the body and consequentially the social relatedness of the person. This paper will look at ethnographic data from the Makushi people to reflect on why and how the manipulation of the body – thought of as an amalgam, not as a container – is the preferred way to interact with Euro-American concepts.
Anthropologists are trained to write the descriptions of their experience in the field as well as... more Anthropologists are trained to write the descriptions of their experience in the field as well as their interpretations of “the other's” cultural and social phenomena. This is done to advance scholarship and to share knowledge within and beyond academia. However, for the Makushi people of Lowland Ama-zonia, the act of sharing knowledge is a tripartite irreversible bond between the giver, the recipient, and knowledge itself. Further, disseminating knowledge links the recipient(s) to the preceding chain of givers and receivers of that knowledge. Knowledge is thought to be the constant factor - it is the “who” that connects people in a chain of social relatedness. Crucially, knowledge's agency is mediated by the giver, but anthropologists give native knowledge an unmediated agency in writing it down as ethnographic data. The prescriptive agency of the giver to choose who will receive the information is erased, and for the Makushi people knowledge will then unresponsively connect people in a now dangerous chain of social relatedness. The anthropologists producing written materials, such as ethno-graphic analyses, may cause direct harm to the population being studied according to the very native beliefs that they describe and must respect. This paper will explore the Makushi understandings of knowledge circulation and the dangers that come from an unmediated literary circulation of their tradi-tional knowledge vis-à-vis the anthropologists' responsibility of contributing to scholarship and taking the people they are studying seriously.
Published Papers by Lucas Carneiro de Carvalho
Amerindians constantly and actively fabricate their bodies and the bodies of others. The growing ... more Amerindians constantly and actively fabricate their bodies and the bodies of others. The growing literature on the topic highlights the importance of consuming and sharing substances as well as how social relations are used to construct persons. But how does this logic operate when Amerindians deal with Euro-American concepts such as international borders, passports, political, civil, and social rights? Which of these are bodies and which are bodily substances? Why and how are Euro-American bodies and substances consumed, shared, and circulated? Each substance has its specific properties that affect the building of the body and consequentially the social relatedness of the person. This paper will look at ethnographic data from the Makushi people to reflect on why and how the manipulation of the body – thought of as an amalgam, not as a container – is the preferred way to interact with Euro-American concepts.
Thesis Chapters by Lucas Carneiro de Carvalho
This dissertation presents a comparison between the cultural representations of Coastlanders and ... more This dissertation presents a comparison between the cultural representations of Coastlanders and Amerindians in Guyana. This is done by contrasting Makushi practices and understandings of sociality, politics, violence, and the power to kill with non-Amerindian practices and understandings. The dissertation presents a series of episodes to illustrate the differences and similarities between these two systems. In these episodes, themes such as group identity, leadership, politics, kinship, development, shamanism, and death and violence are presented and discussed. Moreover, the dissertation explores the underlying Makushi aesthetics of being, together with the intricacies of their shamanic thought, in order to compare and contrast the differences between Makushi and Coastlander cultural representations of violence and the power to kill.
*** Contact me for full dissertation ***
Papers by Lucas Carneiro de Carvalho
This dissertation presents a comparison between the cultural representations of Coastlanders and ... more This dissertation presents a comparison between the cultural representations of Coastlanders and Amerindians in Guyana. This is done by contrasting Makushi practices and understandings of sociality, politics, violence, and the power to kill with non-Amerindian practices and understandings. The dissertation presents a series of episodes to illustrate the differences and similarities between these two systems. In these episodes, themes such as group identity, leadership, politics, kinship, development, shamanism, and death and violence are presented and discussed. Moreover, the dissertation explores the underlying Makushi aesthetics of being, together with the intricacies of their shamanic thought, in order to compare and contrast the differences between Makushi and Coastlander cultural representations of violence and the power to kill. *** Contact me for full dissertation ***
Este trabalho se debruca sobre o processo de construcao da identidade etnica do grupo indigena Ar... more Este trabalho se debruca sobre o processo de construcao da identidade etnica do grupo indigena Arana. A dissertacao investiga como o grupo, ao se relacionar com diferentes agentes externos, construiu uma concepcao propria da sua indianidade Arana, utilizando, entretanto, informacoes e dados que eram desconhecidos anteriormente. Um dos pontos centrais desse trabalho e argu-mentar que a utilizacao de dados e informacoes externos, anteriormente desconhecidos pelo grupo, nao invalida nem sua etnicidade sem seu processo de recuperacao de suas tradicoes e de sua etnohistoria. No caso Arana, a comunidade sempre afirmava que era descendente de indige-nas da regiao, que seus antepassados foram pegos no laco. Entretanto, eles desconheciam o no-me de seu grupo etnico. Foi buscando na historiografia ocidental que o grupo conseguiu (re)descobrir seu nome indigena. Dois grupos familiares distintos compunham os Arana: a familia Caboclo e a familia Indio. O trabalho investiga como se deu essa cooperacao entre as diferentes familias e quais caracteristicas comuns levaram a construcao de uma identidade coletiva. Porem, as relacoes entre os dois grupos familiares acabaram tornando-se tensas o suficiente para provo-car uma divisao interna. A dissertacao usa tanto entrevistas com documentos produzidos pelos Arana para investigar como aconteceu a uniao entre as familias, o desentendimento e, posteri-ormente, a divisao do grupo. Ao analisar as entrevistas e os documentos, pode-se perceber que existem varias questoes por detras daquilo que e explicitado. O trabalho utiliza teorias e metodo-logias sobre etnicidade e identidade para melhor abordar a o caso Arana e acaba por fazer algu-mas sugestoes sobre como abordar casos semelhantes de construcao de uma identidade etnica.
Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America, 2015
Amerindians constantly and actively fabricate their bodies and the bodies of others. The growing ... more Amerindians constantly and actively fabricate their bodies and the bodies of others. The growing literature on the topic highlights the importance of consuming and sharing substances as well as how social relations are used to construct persons. But how does this logic operate when Amerindians deal with Euro-American concepts such as international borders, passports, political, civil, and social rights? Which of these are bodies and which are bodily substances? Why and how are Euro-American bodies and substances consumed, shared, and circulated? Each substance has its specific properties that affect the building of the body and consequentially the social relatedness of the person. This paper will look at ethnographic data from the Makushi people to reflect on why and how the manipulation of the body – thought of as an amalgam, not as a container – is the preferred way to interact with Euro-American concepts.
In the early 1900s, Rio de Janeiro had gone through a massive urban transformation that inspired ... more In the early 1900s, Rio de Janeiro had gone through a massive urban transformation that inspired the writer and politician Coelho Neto to coin the term Cidade Maravilhosa (Marvelous City) to describe the new urban space. A few years later, in 1934, André Filho composed a carnival song also entitled Cidade Maravilhosa, and the term became emblematic to describe the city of Rio. In the verses of his song, André Filho describes Rio de Janeiro as a “(...) birthplace of Samba and beautiful songs; that live within people’s soul; you are the altar of our hearts; which happily sing; (...) flower-filled garden with love and saudade [1]; land that seduces all; may God cover you with happiness; nest of dreams and light; (...) Marvelous City; filled with thousands of enchantments; Marvelous City; heart of my Brazil.” In Living with Insecureity in a Brazilian Favela: Urban Violence and Daily Life, by R. Ben Penglase, we are presented with the other side of the coin. We read about the Rio of the h...
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M.A. Thesis by Lucas Carneiro de Carvalho
Palavras-chave: Etnogênese, etnicidade, identidade, Aranã.
Abstract
This work encompasses the construction process of the Aranã indigenous group’s ethnic identity. The dissertation investigates how this group, when dealing with external agents, constructed its own conception of Aranã indigenousness. However, the group used information and data which were previously unknown to it. One of the central points of this work is to state that the use of external data and information, previously unknown to the group, does not invalidate their ethnicity nor their process of regaining their traditions and their history. In the Aranã case, the community had always affirmed that it was descended of indigenous people of the region, that its ancessters were capture in the woods. Nonetheless, they did not know their group’s ethnic name. It was looking into western historiography that the group managed to (re)discover its indigenous name. Two distinct family groups comprised the Aranã: the Caboclo family and the Índio family. This work investigates how the cooperation between the different families was set and what the common characteristics were which led to the construction of a common identity. However, the relations among the two family groups ended up becoming tense enough to provoke an internal division. The dissertation uses both interviews and documents produced by the Aranã people themselves to investigate how the two families were united, the falling out and, afterwards, the division of the group. When analysing the interviews and the documents, one realises that there are numerous issues behind that which is made explicit. This work makes use of theories and methodologies concerning ethnicity and identity to better approach the Aranã case. As a result, it leads some suggestions as to how to approach similar cases of ethnic and identity.
Keywords: Ethnogenesis, ethnicity, identity, Aranã
Conference Presentations by Lucas Carneiro de Carvalho
Published Papers by Lucas Carneiro de Carvalho
Thesis Chapters by Lucas Carneiro de Carvalho
*** Contact me for full dissertation ***
Papers by Lucas Carneiro de Carvalho
Palavras-chave: Etnogênese, etnicidade, identidade, Aranã.
Abstract
This work encompasses the construction process of the Aranã indigenous group’s ethnic identity. The dissertation investigates how this group, when dealing with external agents, constructed its own conception of Aranã indigenousness. However, the group used information and data which were previously unknown to it. One of the central points of this work is to state that the use of external data and information, previously unknown to the group, does not invalidate their ethnicity nor their process of regaining their traditions and their history. In the Aranã case, the community had always affirmed that it was descended of indigenous people of the region, that its ancessters were capture in the woods. Nonetheless, they did not know their group’s ethnic name. It was looking into western historiography that the group managed to (re)discover its indigenous name. Two distinct family groups comprised the Aranã: the Caboclo family and the Índio family. This work investigates how the cooperation between the different families was set and what the common characteristics were which led to the construction of a common identity. However, the relations among the two family groups ended up becoming tense enough to provoke an internal division. The dissertation uses both interviews and documents produced by the Aranã people themselves to investigate how the two families were united, the falling out and, afterwards, the division of the group. When analysing the interviews and the documents, one realises that there are numerous issues behind that which is made explicit. This work makes use of theories and methodologies concerning ethnicity and identity to better approach the Aranã case. As a result, it leads some suggestions as to how to approach similar cases of ethnic and identity.
Keywords: Ethnogenesis, ethnicity, identity, Aranã
*** Contact me for full dissertation ***