Women Among lhe Aruak, and Tupi language groups; while coexisting in a denso relational network of BRUNA FRANCHETTO exchange, thevariousviflagesstillmaintain their respectivo territorial, political, linguistic, Translation by CHRISTOPHER PETERSON and cultural identities. lhe reader will find a story told in a literary This article systematizes scattered and personal rather than academic style, ethnographic observations on women, stitching together fragments from various womanhood, sexes, and sexuality among sources: excerpts from my field diary, the Kuikúro, a Karib people from the Alto drawings, narratives, songs, conversations. Xingu, recorded on the fringes of another My narrative sequence is a rather isomorphic study of a different nature, with different tracing of my working and living experience objectives' .lhe Alto Xingu region, located as it unfolded in an indigenous village of ia the State of , constitutes an some three hundred inhabitants, from 1976 ecological, political, and cultural unit, the to 1982. Along the way, I gradually lost my result of a long history of migrations and initial feeling of oddness as both a foreigner adjustments by various indigenous peoples and a woman. An initially androgynous who ended up forming an intertribal and being ended up being drawn into a female multilingualsociety, sharing many elements identity constructed ia lhe contradictory of social organization and cosmology. Living space between a woman on this side and side by side in the Alto Xingu are Karib, another woman that was feeling her way around on that side. Once there, my need My research was and is of a linguistic nature and the objective of the field work. carried out over the for emotional survival drove me into an course of a year and a holt, was to document, apparently archaic feminization, together describe. and analyze the Kulkúro language. one with a refusal of or reaction towards a of the variants of Alto Xingu Karib. My PhD thesis was woman being who (once again apparently) an ethnolinguistic study proper, where in addition to structure 1 consider values and uses of the crudely revealed what we on this side language in the social and cultural context. This identify as marginalization, inferiorization - research would not have been possible without the a suffering condition. Finally, I discovered support of the Program for Graduate Studies in thevillagewomenthemselves, oncehaving Social Anthropology at the Museu Nacionol/UFRJ, achieved a basic command of their the Brazilian Notional Research Council (CNPq). and the Ford Foundation. I continue with the Kuikúro language, through conversations and my todoy and1continue to learn with and about them labor at understanding words, expressions, and the peoples of the Alto Xingu. I thank Vanessa narratives, songs - in short, my discovery of Leo for the invitation to participate In the Working a women 's collective and its power. Group she coordinated on gender in lowland South American indigenous societies at the 19th Meeting Beyond the desire to share a woman' s of the Brazilian Anthropology Association (Universi- singular experience in the specific context dade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, March of an indigenous society, this essay adds 1994), wherelpresented a preliminary version of the ethnographic and reflectivo elements to data ond ideas contained in this article and where an anthropological discussion of genders, I had the opportunity to hear criticism and suggestions. I also thank Cecilia McCallum and the result of an increasingly sophisticated Carlos Fausto for their contributions. literature abounding in recent years. I thus

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 205 S.1199 suggest (by wav of conclusion) what one their territory, while never failing to might call an alternative reading ot the constantly re-situare me on lhe fringes of mythical/ritual compiexof the JOMUrikUrnált.J. womannood. Thus, I could Traverse and The Hyper-Women, seen as the femaie occupy some male spaces that were "voice" - that of the Kulkúro women - forbidden to the women: lhe pathways on expounding on the theme of difference, lhe central village grounds and lhe hierarchy, and comolementariness between kwakútu, lhe central house of the male the sexes. collective, where the men meet, teu stories and histories. (est far removed from lhe Among the men, obsennng the women family ana aomestic domam, and where lhe first phase of mv living experience in they prepare for ana develo p "feasts", the Kuikúro village was marked by solitude sacred and profane rituais. 1 movea about and the harsh feeling of being outside lhe equally among lhe domestic areas of lhe fringes of a society in which lwas absolutely houses. the huge Xingu housesarranged in foreign and strange. lhe Kulkúro placed a circle around the vast central plaza; not me in the surreal position of an androgynous naving mv own space. I caule' enter ali of Peng. At night, certain dreams from my them, path free and lacking a center, with adoiescence would reappear. fantasies no reference except mv own little nook, a of anarogyny and herma phroditism. Distant nammock, a sleeping bag, a tew boxes, a from the women, who eyed me witn aisTrust, guest imposed ana received with certain since they did not s peak my language nor careful calculations as to material and I theirs, I was stuck among lhe men, unaer symbolic prestige, "adopted" into a family their control because of the goods, objects, in a pantomime of protection and control. "gifts" that bossessea and was expected In time, I encied up having powerf ul to distribute or cede little by little. Distant, brothers. sist ers, (women)friends who clistrusting women and nearby distrusting waited patiently for my metamorphosis. men defined my ambiguous. Tidiculous, and a severe, exploring, and hopelessly frigntening iaentity. distant mother. Finally, identified fictionally A solitary individual like lhe "owners of as lhe member of a family, I enclea up spells", nad a woman'svisible ana oovious being identified realistically as lhe member Podily traits, ver they were covered, of a faction and gained some alhos and disguised by clothing. I had male traits, enemies, faithful and coherent as such to manifestations of some power emanating lhe very end. At lhe same time, I never from the worid of wnites, and traits of failed to be a woman for lhe men. who incomplete, mutilatedfemaleness: ahagy2, always reminded me of what I could not an aia woman according to the system of do, for not being and being at lhe same age categories and the fact that 1 noa no time intellectual lmmits ("women have hard children: married but without a husbana; heaas"), which mode the aiready difficult alone, sterile, exiled. To lhe women I was a work of my iearning process even harsher; pseudo-woman beyond reach from lhe iimits to freedom (there were forbidden other side of a borderline. To lhe men I was spaces and times, like those of thepajelan- a pseudo-woman, rather disgusting for not ça, or shamanic session, which I was being a fui( woman, rather desirable for supposeci to either avoia altogether ar having something femaie inscribed i my Traverse with a keen awareness aí lhe risks body; they accepted me among them, in involved); insurmounTable limitsof the body (blood, smell). Outsiae of my nookiretuge, my hammock, I always felt on lhe verge of The indigenous terms are written using the spelling nothingness, at lhe edge of an abyss (ar on established for the Karib variants(Kuiláro. Kalapálo. Maitupú, and Nahuquó). The Alto Xingu lndians are top of an open tower in lhe middle of a undergoing an incipient literacy phase in both their storm, another recurrent theme in my mother tongues and Portuguese. dreams/nightmares in lhe village).

YEAR 7206 1" SEMESTER 99 There are two definitivo characteristics of flesh. lhe hair must grow black and shiny being a woman among the Kuikúro (and until it hides the face and back. lhe skin not only among them): blood, essentially must be kept perfectly white in lhe darkness menstrual blood, and a particular smell, of reclusion, from which the young girl is unmistakable, exciting and disgusting, only allowed to leave for a few minutes in dangerous for men and individuais in the early evening or when she presents threshold situations (transformations in herself in dances aí the height of rituais - initiation and disease, the integrity of lhe exhibitions of her beautiful body and gra- wrestler and the pajé, ar shaman). dual previews of her return to society as a Menarche is an unavoidable fact in a woman, literally made. Her legs are woman's life, marking a criticai passage in painstakingly modeled; knees and ankles her biological and social life, a metamorphosis bound with embira fibers ar cotton string taking place during a period of pubescent for her caves to swell up tumescent and reclusion3 . When a woman menstruates for round, overly highlighted between the the first time, she is defined collectively and upper and lower furrows. Her body is publicly as masópe (from matso, to beautiful, white, and tal, her thighs and menstruate, with a nominalizing and tem- buttocks fat; for months lhe recluse has her poral suffix added, "she who has already physical activity reduced to a minimum. had menstrual blood"), is removed from Regular scarification, ingestion of emetics, social visibility for a period varying from and observation of dietary restrictions several months to two years, depending associated with blood - interdiction of fish, on her family group's expectations and lhe basic source of protein in lhe Alto Xingu status. Physically invisible in a protected, diet - help fabricate the body/person, surrounded nook of lhe house, the recluse maintaining a balance of entries and exits undergoes a metamorphosis from girl to of substances and experiencing pain. In woman; her body, like that of any her confines, the recluso receives visits from pubescent recluso, whether male ar her nearest reatives, mainly women, and female, issubmitted to a somatic fabrication clandestinely from the men who desire her resulting in an adult sexual and social and succeed in approaching her, skirting person. lhe body is fabricated for beauty lhe protection of family isolation. As lhe within specific cultural mores and for lhe bearer of quintessential uncontaminated aesthetics of sexual consumption. Ideal beauty (both internai and externai), the female beauty is represented by the recluso is highiy coveted sexually. and recluse'sbody, which hasalready displayed exciting lhe male appetite. the forms of a work of scuipture in living I was ugiy: breasts that did not nurse, fair holt, watery-colored eyes, skinny. Yet 1 was never void of the characteristics of blood 3 purposely deo) with only female pubescent and smell, the ultimato traits of being - ai reclusion hera There is a parollel reclusion for boys, least something - as woman. Blood and but they enter it at different times. since they lack the manifestsign of a "first blood". Adolescents boys smell define the fertile, sexual woman, thus are also "mode" ( yi) during reclusion in a process desired and feared, to be controlied within with choracteristics that are very similar to those I lhe limits of h er universo, voracious, describe for women. Eduardo B. Viveiros de Castro powerful, dirty, beautiful, indispensable mode this theme a central issue for an understanding creator and balance of conflicts. Children of the person'slocusamong the , another Alto Xingu group (A Fabricação do Corpo na Soci- and old women (up to eight and over forty edade Xinguana. In: OLIVEIRA FILHO. João Pacheco years of age, approximately) asa exist on de. Sociedades Indígenas e lndigenismo no Brasil. lhe fringes, still not or no longerfertile, enjoy Rio de Janeiro: Editora Marco Zero/UFRJ, 1987. p. some privileges not granted to lhe others, 31-42). na personalcommunication, Patrick Menget talks obout a kind of third sex, a condition that like a cortam n easy access to male territories mokes the reclusevirtually a sexually indifferentiated and bodies; lhe old women (hagy) exert or generically feminized category. and express powers in family and collective

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 207 S.I./99 decision-making and as consecrated capacity to create verbal objectsseparate mothers they are guaranteed love, from their referrents and to give them a lite profound respect, and eternai gratitude of theirown in word-of-mouth communication. from the children, who dose the ranks of as well as to subordinate the construction family and evenfactionalsolidarity arounci of verbal universes to prefigured objectives. them. I was a chila, an immature being, Thus. lhe Kuikeiro very clearl y conceive of and on the threshola of society, trying to ianguage/speecn througn its representational learn, babbling, and assuch with no idowers; and intentional aspects, conjugating ii s was old, bui' with no power: I was a sexual ideational and pragmatic functions. in this woman. keot ai- a distance for ner smell sense. TO soeak is inherently (and until and her blood. Contradictory sensations: I proven otherwise) to lie. To lie is to create, wanted not to be a woman, since could and it is power. nor escape the experience of that woman- Above ali, to women is attributed the power being as differentially constructed in that of lhe creative speech of lying, and they society, felt and inTerprerea as o sad and detain the covert power of creating, unbearable experience of inferiorization. uncioing, intervening In social relations From my cultural ana personal perspective, through lhe use of non-public speech. could not fali to interpret the solidly Albeit excluded from public speech.. 4 on demarcatea difference Detween men and many occasionsthey have the last word in women as The epiphenomenon of a kind of important decisions and resolution of sexuai oppression, a hierarchical inequaliiy, factionai disputes, at both the family ana not just an asymmetry. At the same time even village levei, even going beyond lo- ana sufferingiy, wanted to be a woman cal borders and intervening in inter-village anyway (in any way), since indefinition and alliances and contlicts. "Gossip" is solituae were even more unbearable. In dangerous. There is a continuum linking the that space/time, I could only be loved by two extremes of political lite: "gossip" and men and women if I recognized myseif as accusation. the ¡atter act being of extreme a woman accepting the rules of the gama gravity, capable of sparking mortal I contess That these - the rules of the game venaeance. The men manioulate this - were comprehensibie. familiar, basea on orerogative, making it a aefinitive ano a universal substrate of the remale negative Trait of the femaie collective. They condition, capable of being decoded by warned me: "Don't talk to the women, me (as Dy any woman from any society), watch out, they' re liars!" By this they meant inut the object of rageful repulsion by a to keep me out of the whirlwind ot politics woman from this side who noa already anda domain of womanly knowledge and incorporated lhe individualist and egalitarian oower. Of course, 1 still had to learn that ali mutations of Western women' s ideology, a (men and women) are liars, by virtue of the moaern history. fact that they ali speak! I observed silent women among outspoken The ssue of the vital and dangerous men, who attributea a discourse to Them. circulation of rumors is recurrent in tolo Women areaugene oro, "owners of gossipi songs, performed mainiy auring the lies". The category expressed by the root Jamurikumálu and Kwampy "feasts". The augu, translated very loosely here as "to gossip/to lie", lexicalizesthe cruciai meaning ' The masters of narrative art, ceremonial discourse, (in social life) of a channel for circulation of and orotory are men. Some women are considered information through stories ana news (ali good storytellers, but their narrative style is more akinná) which by word of mouth weave a condensed, more dramatic, and with a more network of alliances and conflicts permeating restrictea use ot repetitions and parallelisms. Women lhe entire village. The Kulkúro consider that leadership status (inherited and exercised) ar older women can make public speeches, another style ordinary language/speech is capable of with itsown formal, essentiallyformulaic characteristics, infinito illusory inventiveness, given its but nowadays this is a rare occurrence.

YEAR7208 SEMESTER 99 first is a female ritual which we will come wishes and managesto have extraconjugal back to later; the second is a kind of small relations. They are ali ajo, they ali have aja!, intramural Mordi Gras. Like most of the or "Iovers". The women "give", lhe men "feasts", they are held to domesticate what "pay" with valuable objects, cherished by we could call supernatural hyper-beings, their ajo, Relations between lovers are perpetrators of disease, death, and clandestine, everyone knows about them, destruction. Consider the lyrics to some tolo but nobody says so; public disclosure of an songs, small poetic texts translated here: adulterous encounter can lead to physical "Who was going around telling?/your vagi- fighting in which the victim can be either a na of course/went around telling/and your man ora woman, and it can even lead to clitoris of course/went around telling; factionalfeuds. For both men and women, 1 am tired - why don 't the old women stop the Iocus of seduction and passion is not gossiping?/they don'tlikeurucum (annatto)/ marriage or lhe family, but the union why don't they stop gossiping?/they don't between ajo. This a another central theme like uluri/why don 't they stop gossiping?; in lhe tolo songs: I am cut as if with a knife/enoughl stop "May wings be bomn on us/to fly beyond gossipingl /when you goto the uluki/when lhe river's edge/I shall fly yonder like a you go to sit." hummingbird/You cannot stay here/for us Women' s speech is radically naturalized: it to love/take me with you/let us go to your is the vaginas (igygy) and clitorises village./Hagita/let usflee/and go far away/ (mingoky) that tel. The old women are for us to lave/for you to lave me always/ identified as lhe most dangerous; free from "Let us speak hoarsely," (whisper)/I said to fertile and controlled sex, represented by Nigikwegy./Ahinhukwegy/they cut your lhe ulurf, the mark of womanhood, they hair/in lhe center of the village/there on exert real, efficacious power through lhe lhe matiyes, let us don our necklaces/only covertspeech of gossip. There is a privileged then may youburnme/wait/I wish to bathe/ time/space for women's verbal creativity: I wish to paint myself/only then may you it is lhe ulukf, an event in which women (ar burn me/not now/yes, let us don our men) meet and make lhe rounds of the necklaces/only after 1 adorn myself with houses in lhe village negotiating the your necklacell still have lhe little piece of exchange of various goods. Goods and wood from your uluri7the little piece of stories are traded beyond the immediate wood from yourufurf/to long for you/for me confines of househould groups. to use as an earring." The primary meaning of the word tolo is The songs sing of lovo and lovers, longing, "bird", and a derived meaning is "pet". The and the desire to flee. A man asks his ajo to tolo songs are set free to fly as messages speak softly, "hoarsely", so that they may from their "owner" to an addressee, but as not be heard whilethey make love in hiding. if the person who enunciates the song is Another observes a scene from a distance: disguised, ascribing lhe message to others, his loved one is emerging from her period women. There is a recurrent verse used of reclusion and her hair is cut publicly. to construct the poetic structure (rhyme/ Another asks for hisajóto wait for him to get rhythm) of lhe text, and significantly this fixed up; only then may she "burn him". verse is a repeated word, itaóni, ora phrase, While lhe penis "pierces" lhe vagina, he in itao kily, "lhe women speak". turn is "burned" by her. Another kept a In lhe words of the tolo songs and the men, remembrance from his loved one, a "the vagina is dear". This is called igygy fragment of her ulud ihipygy, "payment for the vagina", lhe work Th e ulurkuigyin Kuikúro) is a small women 's that lhe males devote and owe to their garment, a triangle of underbark covering fathers-in-law for years prior to and after the vaginal slit and held by buriti bark twine marriage, as well as lhe material goods that wrapping around lhe hips and penetrating lhe man owes to the woman whenever he between lhe buttocks. II protects, hides,

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 209 S.1/99 ana marks lhe vagina. Nowaaa ys, women The male body dispiays a nuge penis (hygé, use them oniy sporadically in everyday life "arrow"); lhe female body does not show but obligatorily on festive occasions. New, lhe sex except indirectly througn the haus refined ulurf are made by mothers for their and contrast in lhe paint. On the other pubescent, reciuse ciaughters, wno flaunt hand, lhe mole genitalia is porrrayea them wnen they are presenrea naked, simply a phallus. while the female accompanying lhe dances during lhe genitalia (igygy) always appears clothed, "feasts". The uluri is the mark of mature as if merged with lhe ulurt For lhe men, lhe sexuality, fertility, and is seen as an integral uluó is lhe vagina/clitoris and vice versa. parr of femaie gentralia. it is inreresting to Whiie the maie genitalia is seen asa naked compare lhe graphic representations of organ, given immediately to nature, lhe drawings reproauced here as cione by femaie genitalia is seen through its men (iforo)and women (itao)of various ages. cuituralization. Both this fact in particular

YEAR 7 P SEMESTER 99 21 and what can be deduced from obseivation The pain of childbirth is without a doubt the of Kuikúro life in general appear to most violent, acute, and intense pain a contradict the rather widespread notion human being can feel, they told me. For that women in their "primitive" state are tied lhe women it is an unforgettable drama to a sort of natural condition, while men are Birthing conditions in lhe village are certainly linked to the creation of cultural norms. as "natural" as they can be; predictions as to the outcome always involved the suspense Among the women, observing the men of unforeseen events, complications which Over time, I underwent a metamorphosis can only be treated with lhe aid of that lhe women had been waiting for rather traditional resources. The parturient woman, anxiously. Both contact and lhe search for lying in a special hammock with a wide escape from my solitude led me to assume mesh, her legs dou bled, is attended women's roles. In lhe house where I lived I throughout the birthing process by older ended up doing chores (with a mixture of women, drawing on their knowledge from pleasure and resignation) that allowed me many birthings, both experienced and to teste a share of lhe daily weight of witnessed, and by other specialists, those women's work: fieldwork, cooking, fetching familiar with remedies, polés (shamans), water, preparing manioc, bringingfirewood, and "owners of prayers" (kehege oto). All tending the tire. The men themseives admit help to push lhe child out, either directly by that lhe women work a lot harder than manipulating lhe woman 's bodyor verbally, they; in no time at ali, the body of a young drumming up her resistance, or indirectly woman emerging from reclusion is shaped by singing "prayers" to facilitate lhe exit, with strong, constantlyexercised musculature. lhe voyage of a being that must guarantee A mature woman' s body is wiry and robust, lis survival, suddenly crawling its way capable of withstanding any physicaleffort through a hole, from a deep inner darkness generous; bellies and breasts, whether to outside light. swollen or shriveled, show lhe signs of their There are other unforeseen circumstances functions, continents of children and milk. for which there are easily applicable rules. I began to achieve a command of the The birth of another girl after two or three in language to lhe point of expressing (not a row, lhe fruit of an adulterous relationship without some difficulty) my thoughts and or an unmarried woman, a child with a intentions; 1 could finaily exchange serious birth defect, or twins can lead to the experiencesverbally with the women. They decision by lhe family group (received took me into their domains with tenderness affirmatively and serenely by lhe village and enthusiasm to listen to them and satisfy collective and with the mother's own sere- their curiosity. Of ali that I learned, I leave ne acquiescence) to bury lhe newborn. here some observations, data, and remarks. This solution is unavoidable in lhe birth of In our conversations, the Kuikúro women twins, which according to their cultural were very interested in understanding my standards is a n anima ilike, monstrous experiences asa woman from this side and duality, a deviation, an abnormality where to compare my experiences with their own. only one is allowed to survive, just as in lhe They asked me about pain, the first sexual case of a child with a birth defect or one to intercourse, what lhe men paid lhe women; whom it is impossible to identify paternity. sex was a central topic. The newborn, which has fallen through lhe Theytold me that their lives were perrneated mesh in lhe hammock into a hole dug by the experience of pain (sin), lhe same under lhe mother, where lhe placenta pain common to ali and that ali learn to and blood are to be buried, is also left there endure as an unavoidable fact of lite. to be buried immediately, with no pain. However, there is a woman's pain that is Pain appears to be absent at this moment; particularly associated with sex and lhe exhausted mother is helped by lhe childbirth. attendants and observes lhe outcome,

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 21 1 S.1199 the rapid gestures concluding long hours lhe woods". With such characteristics, lhe of terrible effort and ieaving no tracks, first sexual intercourse, i.e.. the first nothing but the marks of pain in her body penetration. can occur when lhe woman and lhe reclusion to wnich she must submit, is still a preadolescent, before menarche, like ali those who have too much olood. at lhe initiative of much older men. After Nevertheless, the mother has lhe last word lhe fact, the girl spends several daysvirtually when it is a case of one aaughter too hidden Inside lhe house, ashamed (inysu), many, no small matter in a society based uncier a protective blanket, with a sad on an absolutely functional sexual division countenance, silent. Having gone through with a view towards basic reproduction. this kind ofinitiation and reduced reclusion, Only lhe mother can challenge ali everything returns to normal; atter all, lhe expectations, even (and mainly) those of incident was normal, and no apparent the husoand and father, with a decisive, marks are left except for lhe memory of pain definitive gesture: she bends down to pick relived in conversations among women. her daughter up from lhe ground and lay Pleasure is elsewhere: in the game of ner on ner breast. The tiny being, covered seduction, lhe thrills of clandestineness and with dirt, liaulas, and blood, is rememOered lhe "play " preceding Denetration, in lhe and enters life; the attendants clean her excitement caused by lhe goods given in and deliver her unto the mother, the body payment. Pare are those who do not to which soe will be attached for several cultivate their ajó, their lovers; pleasure vears. 1 breath in relief, done and in silence, and passion appearto be outside the family moved, without making any comments domain, dissociated from procreation, out of context, pensive. In truth, it ali seems constituting another domain where women perfectiy piausible to me. exercise surprising autonomy, both indivi- Sex is aiso painful for lhe women, and this dual and collective. In this domam n they pain s associated with penetration. i would contrai their own wealth: their bodies, their cloreto speak of traumatic penetration, as sex, their goods. They establish alliances a radical 1970s German feminist put it. and reinforce ties of family solidarity and When we would talk about "lhe first time", formal friendship, since mothers, sisters, there were invariablv two initiai auestions aunts. and friends protect lhe lovers, "Did 1 hurt?" and "What was the payment keeping watch for lhe secret not to be (ihipy)?"Based on the responses, discussions discovered, confirming stories and cover- developed on sex, pain, and pleasure. ups, administering lhe pavments receivea. whicn always reveaied a contradiction Thus, extraconjugal relations form a between lhe necessary evil and the complex, diffuse, and vital network of conauerea geod. parallel exchanges. As a rule, lhe goods Kuikúro women dislike large penises and acquirea by women n their amorous consider penetration a necessaryoutcome, encounters are immediately placed good for men (whose pleasure is linked circulation in a kind of ritualized market, mecnanically to ejacuiation) and not so lhe ulukt: exciusively for women. In lhe uluki, good for them. Pleasure is relative, objects, stories, and versions are exchanged, happening on raro occasions ano in certain whereby facts ana payments are dilluted, (rare) positions, iike a "tickling". Women oassing from one to another successively, and men seduce, but oniy men display and lhe tracks of their origins are lost. lhe violent behavior. "To cross lhe pathway" women go back nome, happy, satisfied, and "to take by lhe wrist" (inhutake) are and secure. typical gestures of male aggressiveness: any desirable woman can be "taken" by Jamurikumálu, the Hyper-Women surprise (not only by her lover) on lhe way Jamurikumaiu is mytn ana ritual. The name to lhe fields or to lhe lake and literaliy is known even to non-Indians as one of lhe dragged to some secluded place, "into main intra- and intertribal feasts in lhe Alto

YEAR 7 212 1" SEMESTER 99 Xingu, a rite with female characters played "spirits", and they inhabit far-off places, by women, recalling and updating lhe lhe deep waters, the heart of lhe forest, homonymous myth every year. I dwell here phenomena of nature that terrify humans. on a revisitation of the myth, a possible Jamurikumálu is lhe akinhá ("story", reading of lhe particular outcome of what "narrative") of lhe Hyper-Women, who I would cai a universal theme, from a existed among lhe peoples of lhe Alto woman 's perspective conjugating my Xingu and exist today at lhe for ends of lhe feeling with that of Kuikúro women as I Earth, who knows perhaps in the cities of understood it. lhe caraibas, say the Kuikúro. A widespread lhe word Jamurikumálu is from the Aruák myth among lhe lowland peoples of tropi- language Gamuri-kuma-lu, woman-hyper- cal South America, with variations and female); in Kuikúro, a Karib language, it is transformations, recurrent fragments, itao kwery, woman hyper. 5 lhe glosshyper reaching lhe world of lhe whites in lhe that I propose for lhe modifiers kuma and vulgarized story of lhe Amazons and kwery is merely an approximation in lhe mentioned, reproduced, and interpreted attempt to translate them. We already in various ethnographies, including those have interesting exegeses on theirmeaning on lhe Alto . I reproduce by some of lhe ethnologists familiar with here lhe synthesis of two versionstold to me lhe Alto Xingu societies ó; in this context, in 1982 by ljáli, an elderly, highly-respected suffice it to say that every (let us say) storyteller, "owner of stories", master of lhe mythical being defined by cognitive narrative art among lhe Kuikúro, and by distance and excess is hyper in a system of Moká, one of lhe most knowledgeable differential relations with current or actual women in Jamurikumálu songs. What (real?) beings, which can be adequate follows is a by-product, lhe summary of a (having the right measurements) ar translation in linear prose of the original oral inadequate (i.e., deficient). Hyper-beings renditions, almost an hour of narrative style, belong to lhe domain of collective a quasi-poem weaving lhe sequence of fabulation expounding on origins; they are lhe story's scenes through a sophisticated cosmogonic, yet contemporary. They exist use of parallelisms and dialogues, punctuated in some space/time. As mentioned above, by the songs of lhe Hyper-Women.8 hyper-beings could be thought of as "Once theiponhyceremony(male initiation models, generative categorizing ideas; marked by ear-piercing) was over for lhe hyper-canoe, hyper-butternut, hyper- son of chief Magijá, lhe men decided togo people, hyper-jaguar, hyper-fish, hyper- off fishing, to seek food for their children. cardba 7, hyper-woman, etc. Hyper-beings They were supposed to spend tive days on are excessive, and as such, dangerous lhe banks of lhe river, in lhe middle of lhe (inegetu): to make contact with them forest. Many dayswent by, and lhe women wreaks disease and death. They are itséke, waited for them in vain in lhe village. Off in lhe forest, lhe men were turning into etinki, 'The Alto Xingu is a multilingual sociocultural system, lhe hyper-boars: hair and fangs grew on where the Karib. Aruõk, and Tupi longuages ore them, and they grew huge. Agijakumá, spoken by nine different peoples in ten villoges. A major portion of the mythical and ritual vocobulary wife of Magiá, sent her recently-initiated is in the Aruak language. son Kamatahirári to lhe river to see what 6 Take for example the adido by Eduardo Batalha was happening. Kamatahirári saw the Viveiros de Castro, Alguns Aspectos do Pensamen- to Yowalapiti (Alto Xingu): classificações e transfor- Comparing lhe versions and renditions by Ijoli and mações. In: Sociedades Indígenas e lndigenismo Moká, whot stands out are a canonical, almost no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Marco Zero/UFRJ, 1987 (pp. hypnotic fluency in the male narrative and a 43-83). condensed dramaticity in lhe female narrative, 7 The term "caroíba" in Portuguese is used in the where odherence to the norms of storytelling art is entire Alto Xingu to reter to whites; in Kuikúro the less important than the songs marking supernatural word is kagaiha. transformation as the story' s highlights.

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 21 3 S.1199 fathers turma int() nyper-boars. lhe men- they followed him under ground. Upon the bom cailed out to him and wanted to surface lhe men could still Mear their songs. feea nim with some of the fisn they nata The Hyper-Womentook tolhe underground caught, and Kamatahirári put lhe fish inside burrows; once in a while they woulcisurface. flute and took it back to lhe village. Night appearing in lhe villages, enchanting other carne, and he told his mother everything women. Although lhe men desperately ne Mac discovered. Agijakurna cooked triea to I-101CI them down. many women lhe fish and took it to lhe conter of lhe joined lhe Jamurikumdlu. "Sisters, leave village, calling ali 'hersisters': 'Ournusipancis lhe men benind to miss usl" said lhe ieaders. are rurning into hyper-boars, they are At lhe Over' s edge, thev threw away their Oecoming monsters, while we are nere uluri; which turned intofish, and threw away waiting for them.' They snared and ate lhe lhe menchildren, who turned into rish. They fisn, in the center ottne vrliage, n the men's took only me girls. destined to ali remamn place, and then snouted: 'Let us dance, tet together. Thev rubPeci their bodies with us ceiebrate, we no ionger vvant our butternut bark and became covered with husbancis and they no longer want us.' As thorns. wentfarther They.and farther away: they were singing ali through the night, crossing rivers and fiemos, aancing, wnere they turned into Hyper-Women. Morning there are no more peopie, 'oeyond the carne, and the)/ were aiready Hyper- world ot lhe caraibas. They stayed at Women: they ate leaves and insects and place surrounded by water lhe men tried stung Metr clitorises with poison ants. their in vain tofollowthem. 'Leave our husoands, vulvas became swollen and bulgina and let tnem tire of waiting for usi Let us eat showed between their iegs. Thev sang, everything that is forbidden to eat, tapir, they sang the Jamurikumálu songs. lhe deer, ali lhe animais!' They stayed there men listened from out there In the middie 01 once and for ali, playing lhe kagutu flutes. lhe forest and became bewildered. lhe (Men oniy serve for procreation: captured, Hyper-Women sang on lhe roof of lhe they fecundate lhe Hyper-Women. who kwakútu, the men's house, and p layed lhe eliminate the sons, keeping only lhe kagurtfi, lhe torbidden flutes. lhe men- daughters. lhe Hyper-Women are dangerous, Poars decided to return to lhe village. They fatal; to meet Up with them means disease carne in by lhe main path, wnere thev ran and cleath; they are Deautifut and into lhe procession ot women, aggressive, enchanting, mortally enchanting.)" wearing lhe men' s adornments (earrings, lhe Jamurikumálu feast is a periodic kneeaands, armbands, belts). With dogfish reenactment of a founding fact, that is, lhe teeth they beat lhe men into bleeding; first rendition ot lhe women' ssongsconstitutind with their ditames bound In red thread, lhe metamorpnosis of lhe Hyper-Women, they danced arouna lhe circle ot houses. definitive and primordial in lhe myth, Finally, after turning the only man in lhe momentaneousana representational in the village, Kamatahirári, Into an armadilio, ritual. lhe ritual recalls and updates (in lhe ceremonial parenthesis) a possibility, 9 Looking at the paired kagutuflutes. which oniy the dramatically imagined In lhe narrative. men can bonde and play, is strictly forbidaen for Like ali rituais, the Jamurikumálu isfrequently women. Is said that disobeying this interdiction heid because of some disruptive e,vent, a wreaks terrible punishmenr meted by the kagutu disease In some indivictuai who has come spirit and the men of lhe village: raping of lhe woman wno dares to iook. roucn. or pla y the flutes. into contact with "spirits” (lhe itséke, in a With a grave sound, these flutes play melodies from aream, in lhe forest, in lhe delirium of a the rolosongs. The women follow the men's musical fever). lhe "spirit" must be removed from iIs rendition attentively, locked in the houses. the doors conjunction with lhe human being through of which are kept carefully doseai In lhe \Muge. an intervention by lhe pajé, there is a solemn, ominous air. broken only who removes occasionally by the duets/challenges between men from lhe sick person's body lhe minuscule ana women. which I will talk about (ater. ar even invisible darts shot by lhe "spirit",

YEAR 7 21 ti " SEMESTER 99 and lhe ritual collectively performs lhe skirmishes, ratherviolent games characterizing disjunction and subsequent domestication the entire Jamurikumálu period. lhe women and departure of lhe "spirit". On the other become aggressive and especially attack hand, like ali rituais, lhe Jamurikumálu feast unsuspecting visitors, sparking laughterfrom results from themiseenoeuvreof a complex onlookers. system of social relations invoiving theowner On lhe last day of lhe feast, an intertribal of the feast, a kind of sponsoring representativa event, lhe women are lhe Jamurikumálu, an inherited or ascribed position, the group the Hyper-Women. Adorned as men, they of peoplewhoformally request of the owner occupy lhe village center, and in a grandiose that lhe ritual be held, male or female enactment they perform lhe complete singers (igisy ato), and owners of songs sequence of lhe songs and dances, in an (iginhu ato), who must receive payment to arder strictly established by tradition, allowtheir songs to be performed publicly. recalling episodes and characters from lhe In lhe Jamurikumálu, there are only female myth through lhe metaphors constituting singers, highly prized specialists whose lhe formulaic text of lhe tolo songs. knowledge is rewarded; however, during In lhe case of lhe Jamurikumálu, there is a lhe time I was in the Kuikúro village, there gap in pathos between myth and ritual. were only men as owners of lhe feast and While lhe narrative is tragic and gets lhe lhe songs. lhe feast takes place on one storyteller and lhe audience wrapped up day, with lhe participation of severai invited in lhe emotion of a cognitive journey villages, lhe culmination and apogee of through a virtual scenario (lhe possibility), months of rehearsals and previews that lhe feast reshapes what is imagined/ liven lhe life of lhe host village, a long cycle imaginable in a kind of tragicomic play, of collective fishing expeditions, intense alternating solemn moments and others of work (particularly by lhe owner of the feast) absolutely cathartic comicity. lhe myth is to amass large amounts of food from the history, and lhe ritual repeats history as a fields, as well as dancing and singing. As farce. In lhe myth lhe women dominate, in lhe days go by the women dather into little lhe ritual it is lhe men, since they are not groups (that gel bigger as lhe final event actors but directors in lhe final analysis. lhe approaches) to perform lhe Jamurikumálu women act lhe parts earnestly, while lhe songs, which are of two types: those men wcitch, assess, and direct, detainers "without words" and lhe tolo, lhe genre of lhe norms of tradition, lhe sequence of mentioned previously. The kagutu flutes dances and songs, lhe movements. The are heard in the men's house. The houses overall climate is not the same as in other are closed, lhe women close themselves feasts; it is more festive in a certain sense, in, they listen and whisper comments, ar since debauchery and laughter greet lhe they may respond to calls by one of them, men' s criticism aí lhe women' s performance. an older and more daring woman, and a prankish, exciting duet gets started. A revisitation of the myth of women's revolt Goaded by lhe performance of lhe "songs Various versions and interpretations of lhe of lhe pygd-pygó toad", especially lhe Jamurikumálu myth in lhe ethnographic ar "song of lhe vagina" (egy igisy), in which pseudo-literary literature have portrayed lhe men describe ugliness, secretions, lhe world subsequent talhe women 's revolt smells, and dangers in lhe female sex, lhe as natural ar wild chaos generated by a women react with lhe hyge igisy, lhe "song fictional subversion of lhe real arder and of lhe penis", poking fun at lhe ugliness of which should return to arder thanks to lhe lhe male genital organ ar its weakness, men's reaction, a view that even became since it faints soon after penetrating a va- banal, ar common-sense. Thus, Joan gina. This is lhe "fight of lhe penis and lhe Bamberger defined this mythical body from vagina". Men and women, penis and vagi- lhe South American lowlands as a key to na also "fight" during their frequent lhe understanding of the original, primordi-

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 21 5 S.l. /99 ai maie domination in human societies, in wnere lhe femaie condition is that of tear an article significantly entitied lhe Myth of and torture. lhe readings proposed by Matriarchy: why men rule In primitive Bamberger and Gregor are considered societies. l° In general, the myth of women s examples of an approach intending to ancestral rebellion as recounted by this consecrate the universalness of male researcher is either terminared with the supremacy either as defining so-called men's successful revenge or is associated primitive societies (in lhe generalization with another myth, that of the origin of the ana generic nature ot Bamberger's "forbidden" flutes (kagutuin Kuikúro), forming anaiysis) or as the same in ali societies, a 'agida', sequential, complementary pair wnether exotic or familiar. VVestern or non- with the former, closed in a pathway Western, traditional or modern (see Gregor's leadingback toa same original arder orthe interpretation of sexual psychology in only real arder. where men dominate once Menindku fantasies. dreams, and myths). the femaie disturbance nas been rraversed." McCallum starts from a controversial There are other readingsof theJamurikumalu question: s it possible to interprat supposed complex. Cecilia McCallum. in an articie ana extreme manifestations of sexual entitleci Ritual and the Ongin of Sexuality in vioience such as gang rape from a more the Alto Xingu 12, criticizes the Western (i. e., sophisticated anthropological perspective ethnocentric) perspective underiying refusingfacilegeneralizationsoruniversalistic "ciassical" analyses of the theme of sexual affirmationsregardingtnefemalecondition? difference in Terms of hierarcny and What is me significance ot lhe terrible dominance structured in social forms punishmenT lhe Alto Xingu peo ples say besets wornen wno by chance or through i° Bamberger's Wide was published in one of the theirownciaringlaytheireyesonorhavesome first reference works for gencier anthropology: type of contactwith the "forbidden" flutes? ROSALDO, M. and LAMPHERE, L. (ed.), Womon. lhe author, wnodid not do field research in Culture and Sociely. Stanford: Stanfora University the region, delves into lhe ethnographic Press, 1974 literature on Alto Xingu peoples and " Th. Gregor (Anxious Pleasures: the sexual ),yes of an anaiyzes the mythical and ritual complex Amazonian peoole. Chicago: Chicago University of lhe flutes and lhe Jamurikumalu through Press. 1985) and E. Basso (A Musical View of the Universe. Philadelphia: Philadelphia University Press, fine operations of cultural contextualization 1985) present versions of the myth of the Hyper- and symbolic interpretation, dwelling on Women and the origin ot the "forbidden" flutes the meaning of The representations among lhe and lhe Kaiapalo, respectivety, contained in narratives, native comments, other peoples constituting lhe Alto Xingu system. acts, and ritual events, since that social .According to lhe myth of origin of the flutes.. in ancestral times men lived in a "savage" state, naked universe is considered s pecifically with its and without any type of utensil, forced to masturbate network of relations (kinship, within and in order to satisfy their desire for sex. Women. between domestic groups, within and nowever, lived in a perfectly structured. exciusiveiy betweenvillages, between men and spirits, femaie society, and they possessed adornments, festivais, songs, cotton, and lhe kagutu flutes. The between men and women, etc.). Space men heard them playing and decided to take does not allow me to reproduce lhe details everything, lite itself. In oraer to do so theY Made of lhe autnor's ethnograpnic course, so bull-roarers with which they stormed the village. will focus on some of her conciusions. Each Frightened by the sound of the bull-roarers ana having been duly instructed to °coup/ "their" place step in lhe author s analysis is based on an ana plav "their" role, lhe women tore off their attentive weaving of ethnographic data adornments, fled inside lhe nouses, and finally, during ana stresses the compiementanness, lhe night had to make sex with the men, lhe new indeect an egalitarian narmony, between masters of lhe village. it is interesting to note that men and women. both the Jamurikumálu and kogutu flute narratives have an opening and first act with the same scene, that of a temale arder contrasting with male Published in HARVEY. P. and GOW, P. (ed.). Sex presocial animality. and Violence. London: Routledge, 1994, pp. 90-114.

YEAR 7 216 1" SEMESTER 99 The rituais of the kagutu flutes and the dead and lhe spirits. Sex is life, and that is Jamurikumálu are thus understood "as what opposes and distinguishes men and complementary both in form and in women as collectives: this is lhe ultimate rationale" (p. 104) and "are concerned, in value/significance of the complex and parallel fashion, with lhe construction of specific representations in the Alto Xingu separate male and female agencies, but society, in its fabulations and in its daily and on a collective rather than an individual ceremonial acts. scale" (p. 105). "Sexuality is constrained McCallum concludes: "In interpreting se- within lhe framework of kinship...Sex is a xual violence or any form of symbolic action pleasure for both men and women, a we must be aware of lhe way that individu- possible danger for both...a matter of al action and experience are bound by sensuality and fun, and also a deadlyserious historically specific social and cultural business..." (p. 105). A close reading of lhe contexts. Feminism has made a nth ropolog ists ethnographic data would allow one to particularly sensitivo to these issues. Any state that it is evident that "masculine and analysis of myth and ritual can benefit from feminino agency underlie lhe cyclical lhe deconstructive critique typical of creation, destruction and reconstitution of feminist scholarship. Moreover, in such an persons in a complex and interdependent ethnographic context it is vital to employ a process involving work, sex, eating and clear view of symbolic form and action...In abstention" (p. 107). lhe tear women feel lhe West sexual murder is lhe killing of a towards lhe flutes as they recall the representative object of sexual desire, possibility of sexual punishment is seen as and this representative object is a equivalent to lhe tear that keeps lhe men specifically Western construct. To assume for from lhe center of lhe village during the that this form of symbolic violence is univer- Jamurikumálu festival, lhe tear of being sal is to ascribe debased forms of symbolism assaulted by lhe women in celebration. and representation to other cultures. Such There is something underlying both fears debasement is likely to go hand-in-hand that makes themequal and complementary, with lhe imposition of a Western theory of according to McCallum. Every ritual is a human sexuality... gang rape in lhe Alto making of relations between lhe human Xingu - whether as an idea or as an event community and lhe spirits, responsible for - is many things: what it is not is a disease and death in successive moments manifestation of a supposed universal male of separation and approximation. At an desire to overpower and humiliate initial moment, "lhe productive power that women..." (pp. 109-110). the spirit embodies at lhe height of lhe By way of conclusion, and entering into lhe ritual is extremely dangerous and potentially anthropological and feminist debate, I intend violent...Human and spirit must remamn to engage in dialogue with McCallum's mutually invisible." At a second moment, arguments and add one further, alternative lhe spirits are reushered into lhe bosom of reading of lhe Jamurikumálu myth, based the humor) community to be fed, so as to on my own ethnographic data. This reading then leave the village in a new (and now emerged almost naturally from a personal peaceful) separation, leaving lhe humans perspective, as an observing woman, with a "power both safe and non-violent" combined with a perspective that I ascribe (p. 108). The making of social relations tolhe KuikCiro women, as I was capable of through lhe ritual performs lhe separation hearing them and understanding them. between both humans and spirits and men lhe debate traversing anthropological and women, and here sexuality, a central literature on lhe genders is not finished; on aspect in persons, is a crucial element. Having the contrary, it is kept open with others, at sex and eating are essential to human least until we succeed in shifting lis terms reproduction and antithetical to what is and its axis to a subsequent phase of done and what exists in the world of lhe reflection on lhe history of societies.

ESTUDOS FEMINISTAS 2 1 7 S.I./99 lt appears to me that Gregor sview, basea lhe myth/ritual of the Jamurikumalu on his Mehináku ethnography, and essentially deals with the theme of the McCallum • s. an ethnograpnic flignt over encounter/disencounter between men the Alto Xingu, take opposite directions, and women as clistinct, opposing collectives yet both tend to silence a discourse, that of and the possibility imaginea (yet intensely the women. Despite the differences expenenced in the narrative and the feast, between groups from the Alto Xingu, I am especially by the women) of an exciusively struck by certain contradictions when female social arder. I call attention to the com paring their emoincal (Jata. Thus, fact that the Kuikúro women never drew disagree with Gregor wnen ne says, for an ex p licit connection between lhe example. that temale libido is, let us say, Jamunkurnalu and kagutuflute myths, and weaker than male libido; it is the concept that none of the versions of the former that of libido that needs TO be consiciered In a collectea concivaes with a scene of male reiative light, contextualized. Thus, in gene- revenge. lhe Jamurikumálu are still on the rai, agree with McCallum's criticism ot edge of trio woria. rulers ot their villages, certain statements by Gregor. and 1 admi- ominous and fascinating (a fascination that re ner orilliant argumentative construction, is danger, atoam, and ciesire). IDUT disagree with one of her central lhe strength of opposition between men themes. the dilutionof the niearch y Petween anq women in sociery, as I have saia, is as men and women in favor of empnasis on proauctive as itstamous complementanness. complementanness. Kuikúro womenspeak Inaeeci, there can De no com dementariness at areal iength about what distinguishes without opposition. lhe myth/ritual of the them from men, about the difference. and Jamurikurnalu p icks out lhe theme of at the same time theyspeak ar great length difference ana works with it to the ultimato abolir their unequal position in a hierarchical consequences: an absolute. metabolized position wnich they do not interpret as difference. finally a new arder, no longer clomination ar oppression, concepts and basea on compiementariness, which feelings ata female condition and a feminist would say leads forceably to sexual discourse that are specific historical and hierarchy through lhe unavoidable cultural proaucts, Western and rnoaern, 3 I subjugation to biological imperatives, but spoke of biological imperatives leaaing to rather basea on (female) homogeneity. It hierarchy; this is wnat Kulkúro women talk is lhe invention aí lhe only egalitanan arder about. In this sense we see eacn other as Dossible for women, an ancient fantasv, cose. I mentioned the specific meaning frequently dealt with as a theme. it is the that the expenence ofsexual pleasure nas collective (female) creativity serving lhe for them. In this sense we see each other as ideation of a paradise, a land without ills. simultaneously different and dose. 1 would lhe narrative thus speaks ot (and the ritual indeed stress the moments ana areas of fragmentally enacts) an irreaucible women's power (market. "gossip", iovers), antagonism, a possibie female oraer women' s faloulation, the construction aí- a contrasting with me men • s antmallike temaie coilective opposed to lhe male transformation. There are no Hyper-Men, coilective in veritable "Gencier Vvars" (a rather just Hyper-Boars and Hyper-Vvomen. fortunate expression of Gregor's). It is here TheJamurikumálu break the alliance, move that the Kuikúro women feei pieasure and oft once and for ai, a their own way succeed in iaughing fuliy. externally eliminating and internally absorbing difference, maieness: they are For an exercise in anthropologicai relati yization of hermaphroditic beings, the clitorises teminism, see the article by B. Franchetta M. L. become penises - rubbing them with Viveiros de Castro Cavalcanti, ond M. L. Heilborn, Antropologia e Feminismo. In: FRANCHETTO. B. et ai. butternut bark they enhance the vaginal (org.). Perspectivas Antropológicas da Mulher. Rio smeli ali over their bodies, appropriating de Janeiro: Editora Zahar. 1981. vol. 1, pp. 11-47. male insignia, neutralizing ali interdictions,

YEAR 7 21 8 sEmEsTER 99 not only sexual (lhe kagutu flutes) but also merely sufficient. This is the real world in those affecting ai individuais in society. which men exist and not just women - am reflecting on lhe consequences of lhe difference: penises and vaginas, sexual use of the hyper classifier in this context: division of labor, spaces, interdictions, and cognitively speaking, lhe distance and fears destined exclusively for women, lhe generative capacity of a hy per category family Iate. How many women have make it possible to conceive of a virtual, dreamed of this voyage? female world of maximum density, and of Among lhe Kuikúro, I learned to lave its decantation into the real world, difference. adequate yet impoverished, existing yet

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