Mulheres Tembé-Tenetehara: entre saias, memórias, subjetividades e fotografias

Abstract

This thesis is the result of an ethnographic study about indigenous women from the Tembé Tenetehara people who live in the Alto Rio Guamá Indigenous Territory (TIARG) in the state of Para, Brazil. This research draws on fieldwork experiences and observations with cultural leader Kuzà'i, shaman Francisca, and information about the late chief Veronica Tembe’s life, who passed away in December 2013. This study uses photography as a tool for interaction and analysis, creating ethnography through visual anthropology lens. This theoretical and methodological approach goal was to observe the convergences between verbal and visual statements that enable us to understand the historically constructed indigenous people identity production from the coloniality perspective, a concept that diverges from how the indigenous themselves perceive their daily lives. This study seeks to reflect on the indigenous women historically constructed symbolic image and analyze this imagistic aspect production that conflict with the indigenous people perspectives, whose comprehension of themselves differs considerably from the version imposed by outsiders. The thesis aims to analyze the Tenetehara women subjectivities in their cultural practices and the historical society movements’ context, which distinguish them from the 305 indigenous people currently living in Brazil, with 275 having "local" languages (IBGE, 2010). These field observations and informations allow us to recognize the historical generalization imposed on indigenous populations in the country, which perpetuates an Eurocentric "Indian" identity, marked by exoticism and neglects these people particularities. This identity is a coloniality power result, a colonial device that permeates history and resonates in contemporary society. Thus, this thesis aims to examine the indigenous women protagonism, using the body-territory concept (CELENTANI, 2014; XAKRIABÁ, 2018; KARIPUNA, 2021), which is a central element of their way of life. These women bodies’ images within their struggles, rights, and achievements are conceived as an instrument of knowledge, memory, and perception, which are embodied in the Territory, distancing us from the imposed matrix and the coloniality gaze.