Tribes That Endured: Four Brazilian Cases
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TRIBES THAT ENDURED: FOUR BRAZILIAN CASES BY NASSARO ANTONIO DE SOUZA NASSER A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1982 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank many persons who helped not only to make this dissertation possible, but helped also to make pleasant the stay of my family and me in the United States. Among them I must especially men- tion Professor Charles Wagley, under whose guidance I have had the pleasure to pursue graduate training. He has not only been a fine and patient advisor, he has also been a warm friend to whom I could ever turn in search of intellectual and personal assistance. Professor Wagley belongs to that rare breed of individuals who combine quality scholarship with humanism. He and his wife, Dona Cecilia Roxo Wagley, have provided much support to my family and me by their friendship. To them I tender my very warmest thanks. The other members of my committee, Drs. Paul Magnarella, Maxine Margo! is, Anthony 01 iver- Smith, and Charles Wood, were patient and extremely helpful. Their comments and suggestions for revision of the early draft of this dissertation were decisive for its improvement. I thank them all for their guidance, their suggestions, and their friendship. I alone am to blame for any shortcomings. Many other colleagues and friends have helped my family and me in sundry ways during our long stay in the United States. To Dr. Terry McCoy, Jane and Michael Painter, Tracy and Don Fairbains, Elisa and Samuel Sa, James Jones, John Wilson, Gilberto Velho, and Newton Monteiro I am most grateful; their assistance was considerable. My graduate training at the University of Florida was supported by a grant from Coordenacao de Aperfei coamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES), and made possible through leave with salary from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, where I am Assistant Professor. I gratefully acknowledge their assistance. Finally, I would like to thank three very special people: my wife, Elizabeth, and my children, Tariana and Miguel. They have been truly patient, long-suffering, and kind during this liminal period. Without their constant emotional support and understanding, my liminal ity would have been exceedingly painful if not intolerable. I am without adequate means to express my profound gratitude to them. The least I can do is dedicate this dissertation to them. i i i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT vi CHAPTERS I INTRODUCTION 1 The Scope of This Study 8 Concepts of Ethnic Groups and Terminology 15 'II INDIANS AND WHITES IN BRAZIL: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 23 The Colonial Period (1501-1759) 24 The Late Colonial Period and Empire (1759-1889) 41 Republican Period (1889-Present) 50 III THE TUKUNA OF SOLIMOES 71 Economy 73 Society 79 Religion 86 Brief History of Contact 89 IV THE MUNDURUCU OF NORTHWESTERN BRAZIL 101 Economy 103 Society 109 Religion 112 Brief History of Contact 117 * V THE TENETEHARA OF MARANHAO STATE 131 Economy 132 Society 139 Religion 143 Brief History of Contact 145 IV Page VI THE TUXA" 161 Economy 163 Soci ety 170 Religion 178 Brief History of Contact 184 - VII ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS 195 % BIBLIOGRAPHY 215 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 222 v — Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy TRIBES THAT ENDURED: FOUR BRAZILIAN CASES By Nassaro Antonie de Souza Nasser December, 1982 Chairman: Charles Wagley Major Department: Anthropology This work is a study of the process whereby four Brazilian Indian tribes--the Tukuna, the Mundurucu, the Tenetehara, and the Tuxa achieved ethnic survival. Each of the tribes has a long history of con- tact with Brazilian society during which it suffered forced labor, seizure of its lands, and depopulation owing to imported Old World diseases. Despite population decline and alterations in their societies and cultures, the tribes remain today distinct ethnic entities inte- grated into their respective regional economies. Various factors account for the survival of these groups. Each tribe had a large population at contact that helped it withstand the impact of early depopulation and to rebound once natural immunization was achieved. Although the groups did practice infanticide and abortion, the degree of these methods of population control was not sufficient to deeply affect population size. The territory of none of the groups was immediately sought by colonists, so that villages remained outside of the foci i of colonization. Native social structure also promoted ethnic survival. The Tukuna and the Mundurucu, for example, are socially structured according to a complex moiety system. Such a system makes vi them exogamous at the moiety level but endogamous at the tribal level. The scheme has worked against miscegenation. Bilateral rules of descent among the Tenetehara and the Tuxa”, in constrast, permitted mixed marriages without the loss of ethnicity by the offspring. Ceremonials and continuing use of the native language further function to mark off ethnic boundaries. In this century, the intervention of governmental agencies charged with protecting the Indian has also aided indigenous survival. In addi- tion to providing limited educational facilities and some medical atten- tion, perhaps the most significant contribution of these agencies has been in preventing outside encroachments on reservation lands. And, maintenance of their lands has been an imperative condition for Indian continuity. vn CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Contact between Brazilian Indians and Luso-Brazil ian society has often produced indigenous mal -adjustment, socio-cultural disorganization and extermination of many tribal groups. This general trend has been the outcome of hundreds of years of life under persecution, economic exploitation, and political domination by the non-Indian ruling society. For instance, in 1500, when the Portuguese first arrived in that part of South America which is now Brazil, the area was inhabited by about 2.3 million people (Hemming, 1978). Today as a result of the devastat- ing effects of Luso-Brazil ian contact there are less than 220,000 Brazilian Indians (Vidal, 1982). Literally hundreds of tribes have disappeared during the more than four centuries of contact between the Indians, the African slaves, and the Europeans who came to Brazil and their descendants. Throughout this process, the Indians have endured massacres by armed groups, death due to imported diseases, subjugation by slavery, debt servitude, and loss of culture via assimilation into the Brazilian society. But despite these disabilities, many tribes continue to endure (cf. Cultural Survival, 1979; Ribeiro, 1977; Schwade, 1976; Vidal, 1982). The process of Indian subordination has its roots in the colonial past, been shaped by enslavement, forced missionization , economic expropriation, and lethal effects of diseases brought by the colonists and the modern moving frontiers (Wagley and Harris, 1964; Ribeiro, 1977; 1 2 Hemming, 1978). Even so, many tribes have survived and according to Kietzman, "are growing in size, and their indefinite continuation as ethnically distinct units appears a certainty" (1972:1). Many tribes continue not only to increase their population, but also continue to maintain their ethnic identity distinct from Brazilians, and even from each other. Thus, change in native socio-cultural patrimony and socio- cultural arrangements has not meant loss of ethnic identity, nor has acculturation resulted in full assimilation, at least in terms of indigenous collectives (Wagley, 1977). Indian tribes have died out, been killed, suffered extreme disorganization, and have been accul- turated to the point of almost complete loss of their aboriginal culture. But, there is not a single record of voluntary and complete assimilation. Even in the extreme situation when the Indians are con- sidered caboclos (Brazilian peasants), due to the loss of most of their cultural patrimony after years of contact and exploitation, their Indianess has persisted and sometimes revived itself. The question of Brazilian Indian ethnic persistence is closely related to the forms of articulation between the tribal groups and dif- ferent segments of the colonial and national societies. This articula- tion has been largely marked by asymmetrical interethnic relations and a real disinterest by the larger society to assimilate the tribal groups. The articulation of Brazilian tribal groups and dominant society can be better understood through the analysis of economic, political, and ideo- logical forces that have historically shaped and structured such ethnic relations. These three closely related forces comprise (a) the economic concerns which have pervaded both colonial policies and con- temporary governmental programs of national development and territorial 3 integration; (b) the political power exercised by the dominant society by force or special legislation, which has guaranteed control over the Indians; and (c) the ideology of superiority--not only materially but morally and intellectually as well--that has been developed by images of ethnic stereotypes which have often constituted the basis for explaining and justifying a supposed right of domination by colonial and national societies. In this dissertation I will consider these dimensions separately only for the sake of clarity. In fact, they are comple-