As florestas e as roças: a construção de uma territorialidade indígena na aldeia Pino’a Tembé (Alto rio Guamá, Pará)

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to analyze how the Tembé territory, in and around the village of Pino'a (upper Guamá River, Pará) is built, with a focus on the importance of forests and agricultural fields. Research was carried out in an area of “retomada”, and thus sought to trace the territorial trajectory of the Tembé people within the larger context of history of this indigenous group. Later, the management practices in fields and forested areas of the Pino'a village were characterize. How management practices in these areas contribute to the construction of a local indigenous territoriality was also analyzed. Research was carried out using a qualitative, ethnographic approach, based on transcriptions and descriptions recorded in the field with a notebook, as well interpreting ethnographic data. In addition, participant observation was used and semi-structured interviews were conducted; secondary data were collected from books, journals, articles, among other sources. Research was first conducted with the oldest residents, with heads of households and their children, to analyze the importance of the agricultural areas and forests for the Tembé. In general, research involved the entire indigenous community of the Pino'a village, so to understand the local territoriality and a sense of belonging to the territory within the regional and local indigenous context. The interlocutors involved in this research process expressed themselves freely so that the researcher could understand their perceptions of reality, without interfering or inducing the interviewees in any specific direction. Research results show that the indigenous lands of the upper Guamá River were rife with territorial conflicts, since part of it was occupied by settlers and non-indigenous farmers. And, the stretch that is now the Pino'a village, beforehand was occupied by settlers, but by a process of extrusion, today this area is occupied by Tembé Indians. In this territory, the indigenous people cultivate manioc in the fields and make camps in the forests as a way to perpetuate their culture, through their habits and customs. The first fields were established in this initial period, as a way of survival and land resistance. Since this initial period, the Tembé have been creating territorial ties to the land and their farms and forests are interconnected as sources of food, shelter, protection and resistance, as they fight to remain in their territory. In this way, the fields and the forests are part of the local territoriality, since, the forests are linked to the practices of camping and collection of fruits such as açaí. Cultivation practices, on the other hand, go hand in hand with the party of the “Menina Moça”, linked through the local manioc variety: Mandiocaba, which is used during the ritual of passage from girl to woman, representing a symbolic act for the indigenous Tembé. In addition, the "roça" is very important to the production of foods, such as manioc flour, a staple of the Tembé diet. Therefore, it is in this territory, located on the indigenous land of the upper Guamá River and more specifically in the Pino'a village, that the Tembé reproduce their territoriality, perpetuating their ways of life, as well as their affective relationships between members and their ways of using the resources of cultivated areas in in their forests.