O lugar do corpo no corpo do lugar: uma etnografia da panha do açaí entre jovens da Ilha das Onças - Pa

Abstract

The relationship between bodies and places in daily activities is the theme of this study which aims to present and at the same time understand, the forms and meanings attributed to such relationships in the practice of collecting açaí. The research carried out on Ilha das Onças - an island region close to Belém, capital of the state of Pará, in the northern region of Brazil -took place from the entrance in the açaizais belonging to seven young interlocutors - two female and five male - and made it possible to follow the universe of açaí “panha”, through experiences and narratives. The "panha" - name given by the residents of Ilha das Onças to the activity of collecting açaí - is here understood as a relational action between humans and plants, which is expressed as a technique and at the same time as an individual skill why conforms one own way of accomplishment, whose aim is to reap the rewards without hurting them, involving risks, heights and a lot of care. It reveals how interwoven the bodies of people are with their places of residence, which are also places of work. The collection of açaí, among the set of body techniques practiced on the islands near Belém, is a secular, ancestral and, therefore, traditional activity, and the collected product is a source of food and an economic base for those who live on Ilha das Onças. The experience in the açaizais accompanying people who collect the açaí, resulted in an ethnography of the “panha”, based on three body movements with different rhythms: the ascent, the arrival at top of palm tree, the descent and other perceptions. After the “panha” comes the “dibulha” and the packaging of the fruits in rasas in a handmade way, because beautiful and useful, preparing the moment when the product will be exposed, touched, tasted and marketed. The “panha” also leaves marks on the bodies of the collectors, revealing traces of the plant's agency, stigmas and attribution of masculinity. She is a “man's job”, but she is also a woman's. Women “panham” the “bébi” and “panham” the açaí. In short, the bodies of collectors and collectors are constituted by a permanent and updated inter-agency interplay between environment, society and the individual that is imprinted on them, as in a palimpsest. The relationship between man / woman and plant / açaí sets up a braid in the island's landscapes.