Cultura, oralidade e língua Mẽbêngôkre sob o prisma de seus mitos

Abstract

The present research sought to evidence in the myths Mẽbêngôkre, the intertwining between culture, language and orality, evoking themes such as memory, oral literature and history, through bibliographic research and approximation of the field carried out in some Mẽbêngôkre villages in southern Pará, specifically in the municipality of São Félix do Xingu. It was observed that the myths show, among others, historical and cultural aspects, when presenting the ways of life of the ancestors and their deeds, which provided the cultural formation of the Mẽbêngôkre, reflected today. The objective of this research was, through bibliographic survey, and participant observation, with data collection in the field, to dialogue with the existing data on Mẽbêngôkre myths, in order to understand the place of myth for these people. For the purposes that the present work proposes, four versions of a Mẽbêngôkre myth were compared, in order to provide a better understanding of the intertwining between myth, history and “culture”. The interlocutors of this study were eight people Mẽbêngôkre, among them, a woman. Being the versions of the myths presented here, narrated by three of these interlocutors. Research becomes relevant because it provides knowledge about the place of myths among the Mẽbêngôkre, reflecting on topics that permeate them, such as cultural formation, the importance of orality and memory and, as myth and history, they touch among amerindians. The present research sought to reflect the amerindian ways of life, based on the Mẽbêngôkre, in order to encourage the subversive character in the face of indigenous realities, in order to contribute significantly to them. The field incursion occurred through the research, initially of participant observation. The daily life of the indigenous peoples in their relations, between themselves and with the environment, were observed. The second moment consisted of field consolidation and data collection. The work is structured in four chapters and the theoretical basis was contributed by authors Louis-Jean Calvet (2002; 2011), Jack Goody (2012), Claude Lévi-Strauss (1991; 2018), Marshall Sahlins (1997), Viveiros de Castro (2017; 2018), Aryon Rodrigues (2000; 2001 and 2013) and others.