Corpos Partidos: adornos cerimoniais, benzimentos rituais e a estética da produção no alto Rio Negro

Abstract

Nos últimos três meses do ano de 2012, analisei, ao lado do patriarca dos Baniwa-Hohodeni, Laureano Valência, centenas de artefatos recolhidos entre os mais diversos povos que compõem o mosaico étnico da região do alto rio Negro (ARN) -povos de origem Tukano, Arawak e Maku.1 Fazíamos isso a partir de fotografias que eu captara nos principais museus etnográ-ficos do Brasil. 2O trabalho na reserva técnica do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, realizado em agosto daquele mesmo ano, deixara-me especialmente entusiasmado. Dentre os objetos fotografados, eu encontrara alguns dos poucos adornos rituais recolhidos entre os Baniwa, em toda a longa história do colecionismo rionegrino. Eles haviam sido coletados por Koch-Grünberg, no remoto ano de 1904, na mesma região onde mais de 100 anos depois, eu realizava meu trabalho de campo (Cf. Koch-Grünberg 2005:195-97).É conhecido na literatura etnográfica o fato de os índios do ARN partilharem um amplo conjunto de objetos, em um sistema de cultura material bastante uniforme, sobretudo quando se considera os chamados "índios do rio" -grupos arawak e tukano oriental.3 Os adornos são mencionados mais frequentemente em trabalhos escritos junto a clãs menos afetados pelas fortes pressões assimilacionistas que marcam a história da região desde os primeiros contatos com colonizadores, já no século XVII. Sabe-se, que os Baniwa utilizavam objetos semelhantes àqueles empregados por seus vizinhos tukano -como os Barasana, os Makuna e os Desana. Contudo, há poucas descrições de primeira mão feitas sobre estes artefatos a partir dos próprios Baniwa.

New Insights into Use-Wear Development in Bodily Ornaments Through the Study of Ethnographic Collections

“…Depending on the ethnic group, there is great typological and material diversity, further varying according to age group, gender, social position, and other affiliations, such as to clans or moieties (Albisetti and Venturelli 1962;Lévi-Strauss 1936;Ribeiro 1988;Seeger 1975;Turner 1995). Recent anthropological studies have stressed the mythical and social importance of ornaments in the region, as well as their agentive and prophylactic capacities (Chaumeil 2004;Erikson 2001;Lagrou 2013;Ladeira 2007;Miller 2009;Oliveira 2017;Santos-Granero 2009Walker 2009). Collaborations between museums, anthropologists, and indigenous communities have provided new information and perspectives on Amerindian collections (e.g., Françozo and Van Broekhoven 2017;Oliveira 2017;Silva and Gordon 2013;Shepard Jr et al 2017;Van Broekhoven 2010).…”

“…Recent anthropological studies have stressed the mythical and social importance of ornaments in the region, as well as their agentive and prophylactic capacities (Chaumeil 2004;Erikson 2001;Lagrou 2013;Ladeira 2007;Miller 2009;Oliveira 2017;Santos-Granero 2009Walker 2009). Collaborations between museums, anthropologists, and indigenous communities have provided new information and perspectives on Amerindian collections (e.g., Françozo and Van Broekhoven 2017;Oliveira 2017;Silva and Gordon 2013;Shepard Jr et al 2017;Van Broekhoven 2010). Nevertheless, approaches focused on the analysis of the biographies of ornaments are still missing.…”

“…However, such interpretations often implicitly reduce the lives of ornaments to a linear sequence that proceeds from raw material acquisition to stringing and, eventually, to discard. This assumed linearity dictates how we interpret ornaments to the exclusion of evidence that suggests that ornaments can have complex object biographies (sensu Kopytoff 1986), being restrung, repaired, broken apart, hidden away, widely exchanged, or kept as heirlooms over generations (e.g., Chaumeil 2004;Ewart 2012;Lillios 1999;Oliveira 2017;Wiessner 1982). This is because assessing such specific intentionalities and biographies archaeologically is rather challenging.…”

Indigenous Therapeutic Tourism: Challenges, Emerging Trends, and Sustainability

“…In Brazil, particularly in the states of Acre, Rondônia, and Amazonas, where indigenous ethnicities predominantly inhabit the Amazon rainforest, Health Tourism, emphasizing ICHP rooted in indigenous traditional medicine, has been ongoing for at least fifty years (Henriques, 2023;Proença and Panosso-Neto, 2022;Costa Oliveira, 2017;Shanon, 2003). However, before 2003, neither Tourism nor Health were regulated by law in Brazil.…”

Lost Objects, Hidden Stories: On the Ethnographic Collections Burned in the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro

“…This led me to photograph everything I could find in the Rio Negro collections, whether produced by the Baniwa or not—from ceramics to baskets, musical instruments, feather adornments, and many other kinds of objects. This was the beginning of a long-term collaborative engagement with the Baniwa people in a project that was not restricted to the collections of the National Museum but also included the Indian Museum (FUNAI), the Archaeological and Ethnological Museum (USP), and the Goeldi Museum, aiming to produce a broad overview of the object system within this region and beyond (Costa Oliveira 2015, 2017).…”