Humans and nonhumans in the universe of transformational bordering the Tapajós - Pará

• Autor(a) principal: Valentin Wawzyniak, João
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Mediações - Revista de Ciências Sociais
• Texto Completo: https://ojs.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/mediacoes/article/view/2012.v17n1p17
• topic: Riparians; Cosmology; The Amazon; Ribeirinhos; Cosmologia; Amazônia

The present study approaches the social dimension of the relationship between humans and non-humans in the cosmology and everyday lives of riparians, from etnographic data resulting from field research carried out between 2005 and 2007, within communities located on the banks of low Rio Tapajós, Pará. The guiding principles of this relationship are given by the cultural system, which postulates the non-existence of a dichotomy or antagonism between the natural, cultural and supernatural dimensions but, instead, postulates beings in a transformational universe populated by a plurality of agents, human and non-human. Such beings, with a power of enchantment and agency, transform into each other, under certain circumstances. They transfigure their appearances and behaviors, regulate and affect the body and individual and collective everyday life. In this ethnographic context, some qualities of beings – animals, humans, objects, spirits and institutions – are apprehended as people with whom they can establish social relationships, especially “deals”.