Embodiment Among the Kariri-Shoco of Northeast Brazil
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__________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info Gender and Reproduction: Embodiment Among the Kariri-Shoco of Northeast Brazil By Sílvia Aguiar Carneiro Martins A thesis Presented to the University of Manitoba in partial Fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada © S. Martins, 2003 0 __________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info for Dona Marieta and Dona Maria Velha 0 __________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info ABSTRACT This ethnographic study was conducted among the Kariri-Shoco, an indigenous people of Northeast Brazil, during nine months of field research in 2001. The research focuseD on the female body, particularly female reproductive processes and bodily fluids as a fundamental way of approaching female embodiment. Kariri-Shoco ethnophysiology and reproductive processes were investigated through examining shamanic specialists‟ and women‟s conceptions, experiences, and perceptions of how sexual difference and cure-healing practices are intertwined with Kariri-Shoco knowledge of the body. Kariri-Shoco women‟s meanings and experiences in relation to reproductive processes, sexual practices and desires were approached as fundamental issues for the understanding of female embodiment. The investigation of therapeutic methods of cure-healing ritual performances has shown how traditional indigenous medical practices remain contemporary Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists‟ medical knowledge. Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists explain that the body opens during sexual intercourse and when women experience menstrual and post-delivery blood fluxes. Bodily fluids of male and female bodies from sexual intercourse, and menstrual and post-delivery bodily blood fluxes, provide a vulnerability of the body in which shamanic practices become dangerous. I describe three different kinds of Kariri-Shoco cure-healing rituals which have the purpose of closing the patient‟s body. The reza (prayer) ritual is one of the first steps that Kariri- Shoco people take towards cure-healing processes. Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists experience embodiment during cure-healing rituals, when the nature of the patient‟s health problem is discovered, diagnosed, and treated. I have discussed and demonstrated that Kariri-Shoco knowledge of the body relates to the „openness‟ and „closedness‟ of the body, which provides basis for sexual differences perceptions and experiences intertwined with gender embodiment. Data analysed about gender and female embodiment reveal how Kariri-Shoco reproductive women resist male domination. The perspective that Kariri-Shoco shamanism is the fundamental locus for approaching and understanding symbolic aspects of Kariri-Shoco ethnophysiological reproductive concepts and the experiences women have through sexual difference and practices provided the possibility to approach how female embodied subjectivity is produced and experienced within the Kariri-Shoco cultural context. i __________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my Grandmothers, my Grandfathers, my Mother, and my Father, among the Kariri-Shoco, for all the blessings, for all the strength that they gave me to concentrate on my work and to continue focusing, despite the difficulties and sufferings which are experienced during the whole process of researching and writing within my academic studies. My gratitude is also immense to so many friends that I have found among the Kariri-Shoco, who made me feel part of their world through their blessings, through their knowledge, and through their kindness. I am especially grateful to Dona Marieta, who embraced me with so much love, and Dona Maria Velha, who was so patient and kind with my work. I am sure wherever they are now, they have joined enchanted beings in the cosmos. I thank Paje Julio and Cacique Cicero, for trusting me and allowing me to conduct ethnographic research among their people. I thank Candara for letting me know and witness how hard is the work and responsibility of the Kariri-Shoco prayer-healer shaman with other peoples‟ health, as well as for the respect that he and his children (Kenedy and Dulcilene) had for my research. I thank Frederico for the attention and understanding he gave to my work. I also feel grateful to Mr. Herpidio, Chiquinho, Mr. Zeca, and Mr. Ze Tenorio, for all their consideration and respect that they gave to my work and me. I thank Vanda, who is a Kariri-Shoco midwife, for her friendship. I am thankful to Dona Zezinha, Dona Chiquinha, Dona Maria Curi, Dona Ivete, Dona Especilia, and so many other Kariri-Shoco Grandmothers, who receive and give so many blessings to all God‟s persons and God‟s children. I am so grateful to Baioca for letting me know how powerful and strong a shaman she is and also to let me see how much goodness she ii __________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info has from her Mother‟s heart. My thank yous are extended to all Kariri-Shoco women who shared with me their kindness, their friendship, their knowledge and experiences. I thank also my entire Street of Caboclo neighbors who were so kind with my family and me, sharing so much friendship and making us feel at home through their warmth and kindness. I am also extremely thankful to my parents, Hélio Carneiro Martins de Souza, Gynecologist and Obstetric, M.D., and Ma. Lúcia Aguiar Carneiro Martins, who gave me all the encouragement, strength, and support of their love and goodness for coming to Canada and to realize their dream for me of being one of the doctors among their children, which, in my case though not a medical one, but even stronger within the medical anthropological field. I am also very grateful to my man, Ivson José Ferreira, who proudly became my househusband in Canada, providing all the love, kindness, support, and attention I needed during this difficult long, winding, and hard academic road. Without his dedication and love, I am sure I would not have enough strength to keep being strong. All his care for our beautiful children Stela and Tomás and me was fundamental. I also thank Stela and Tomás who are so kind and blessed creatures, who arrived in our lives and bring us so much happiness. Without their beauty and kindheartedness this academic road would have been so much tougher for me to continue to move ahead. I thank my children for their patience and the understanding they had for all the time that my work took me away from them. From the academic environment, I have so much gratitude for so many nice and knowledgeable people. I would like first to mention the friends that I have in the department of Social Sciences at the Federal University of Alagoas, who allowed me to have my leave to come to the University of Manitoba. I specially thank Maria do Carmo iii __________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info Vieira, who gave me all attention necessary in Brazil. For my Brazilian anthropologists - friends and masters – João Pacheco de Oliveira Filho and José Augusto Laranjeiras Sampaio, I am eternally grateful for the inspiration that they have always provided to my anthropological work. I am very grateful to the anthropologist Christiano Marinho Silva, who has helped me so much with his friendship and attention on providing me with bibliographic materials necessary for my thesis. I also thank Renato Athias, who is a wise medical anthropologist working with Aboriginal peoples from Northwest and Northeast Brazil, for the support on bibliographic material and attention I needed. Clarice Mota, who have conducted such a beautiful research about the Kariri-Shoco‟s ethnobotanical knowledge, thank for the respect with my study. I am thankful also, to Parry Scott, who has always believed in me since before my Baccalaureate of Social Sciences, in my vocation and strength. My thanks also goes to all my feminist friends, especially from the Le Petit Comité, who have always shared great moments of joy and strength: Odete Vasconcelos, Lady Selma Albernaz, Clelia Joron, Katia Araújo, Grazia Cardoso and Zuleika Dantas. My special friends, Clarisse Garcia. Hulda Stadtler, and Rachel Rocha. My sisters, Fernanda and Valéria. They are all great and beautiful Brazilian women. I have so many to thank from the University of Manitoba. Dr. Jean-Luc Chodkiewicz was the first to become interested in my research proposal, providing my acceptance into the doctorate program as my adviser and understanding my need for a feminist anthropologist as an adviser. For Dr. Ellen Judd, I feel an immense gratefulness for accepting to be the one who followed and guided my paths. Ellen Judd became my academic strength. It was through her attention, dedication, and respect for my work that I found encouragement to pace throughout the doctorate program in Anthropology. She wisely advised and made me grow as a feminist anthropologist. I am so thankful. iv __________________________________________________________________________________________www.neip.info I am grateful, also, to my advisory committee members, who have also given me so much support and encouragement. To Professor Dr. William W. Koolage my gratitude is on how much I have learned from his teachings, providing me with