LIKE A MURURÉ: SOCIAL CHANGE IN A TERRA-FIRME COMMUNITY ON THE AMAZON ESTUARY By NEILA SOARES DA SILVA A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2004 Copyright 2004 by Neila Soares da Silva To my husband, Roger, and in the memory of my father, Pedro, and my dear aunts- guardian angels Cuca and Dodó, for their love, compassion, and concern. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis would have been impossible without the cooperation of the families in Jocojó, and the support and patience of Pedro Tapuru, Bira, Adamor, Capixaba, Carlos, Sérgio, Maria Antonia, and Paulo Oliveira Jr. in Gurupá and Belém. My greatest thanks are to these people. There are other debts that cannot be repaid. I would like first to thank the members of my committee, Professors Marianne Schmink, Karen Kainer and Stephen G. Perz, for their understanding and support in the final stage of this project. I am particularly indebted to my advisor, Dr. Marianne Schmink, for her guidance and encouragement in the writing process. I am also indebted to the staff at the Center for Latin American Studies and the Tropical Conservation and Development Program–TCD. Special thanks go to Margarita C. Gandía and Myrna Sulsona at the Center, and Wanda Carter and Hannah Covert, Coordinator, at the TCD for their dedication, promptness and professionalism. Many institutions provided funding for my master’s studies at the Center for Latin American Studies. Their support is gratefully acknowledged. Fellowships from the Tropical Conservation and Development Program, and the Nature and Society Training Program, under the partnership between the Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil–IEB, the World Wildlife Fund and State University of New York, allowed me to conclude the coursework. Field research in the summer of 2002 was funded by the Charles Wagley Research Fellowship and the Tinker Travel Grant. iv Much of what is written in this thesis is the outcome of class discussions and readings for the courses taught by Dr. Anthony Oliver-Smith: Economic Anthropology, Rural Peoples of the Modern World, and Seminar in Economic Anthropology. It was the inspiration of his elegance and clarity of thought in walking us through the intricacies of rural peoples in modern and post-modern contexts that framed my anthropological interests. I am thankful for that. Final thanks go to my mother, Lygia, and my sister and brothers, Vânia, Paulo and Antonio. They contributed encouragement throughout my graduate studies abroad. My debt to my loving family is hard to express. Perhaps through music, as we have always communicated between us, I will find the notes to thank them for everything. I began writing this thesis in the Fall Semester of 2002. Roger was here then, by my side, writing his dissertation and helping me recuperate my physical and spiritual health after my fieldwork experience, and the loss of my best friend, and aunt-mother, Cuca. In the spring of 2003 he had to resume teaching in Brazil. He has been an indefatigable supporter through correspondence, conversations on the phone, and two short but much cherished visits ever since. Without his support and physical presence in the end of my writing process, this thesis would not have been possible. May we have all the time after this endeavor to enjoy the many pleasures of a life together. v TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................1 Theoretical Affiliation ..................................................................................................4 Entry to the Communities.............................................................................................8 My Access to the Communities.............................................................................8 The Research Setting, Jocojó ..............................................................................11 The Fieldwork Experience: How I Met My Hosts .....................................................12 The Organization of the Chapters...............................................................................17 A Brief Note on the History of the Emergence of Amazonia’s Peasantries ..............21 2 MAKING A LIVELIHOOD: CONTEXT AND PRACTICES..................................26 The Municipality of Gurupá .......................................................................................30 The Town....................................................................................................................40 Jocojó in 2002: The Ways the People in the Community Secured Their Livelihoods ............................................................................................................42 Other Sources of Income: Remittances and Rural Pensions ......................................55 Peasants?.....................................................................................................................59 3 TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY IN RELATION TO OUTSIDE INTERVENTIONS .......................................................63 The Formation of Jocojó.............................................................................................70 1912-1965, Like a Mururé: Economic “Independence” on the Margins ...................76 The Household.....................................................................................................79 Labor Mobilization and Internal Differentiation.................................................80 O “Tempo dos Patrões” (The “Time of the Patrons”).........................................87 1966-1996, Timber Extraction: From Increased Participation in the Regional and Global Markets to Penury on the Margins.............................................................96 O “Tempo da Comunidade” (The “Time of the Community”)...........................97 vi Transformations in Sociality, Domesticity and Morality....................................99 Merchants of a Different Breed: Transformation of Social and Economic Relations Within and Between the Community and the “Outer World”.......104 Jocojó Revisited........................................................................................................107 4 THE SHIFTING MEANINGS OF “MOVEMENT” ...............................................112 “O Grande Movimento”: Mobility and Agency on the Margins..............................115 The Catholic Church.................................................................................................118 The Socioenvironmental NGO .................................................................................128 Correlating “Times,” “Movements” and Social, Economic and Political Transformations in Gurupá..................................................................................144 5 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................157 “The Time of the Patrons”: “Grande Movimento” ..................................................161 Timber Extraction: Increased Cash Circulation in Gurupá’s Economy ..................165 The “Time of the Community”: “Movement of the Church”...................................169 The Socioenvironmental NGO: “Movement of the Environment” ..........................173 APPENDIX A GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS ...............................................................................177 B GLOSSARY OF PORTUGUESE TERMS..............................................................179 LIST OF REFERENCES.................................................................................................184 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...........................................................................................193 vii LIST OF TABLES Table page 2-1 Log Production in Gurupá........................................................................................33 4-1 “Tempos,” “Movimentos,” and Social, Political, and Economic Context on the Local and Regional Scales ..........................................................................146 5-1 “Tempos” and “Movimentos”: Transformations in the Social Life of the Community of Jocojó from 1912 to 2002 ..............................................................158 viii Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts LIKE A MURURÉ: SOCIAL CHANGE IN A TERRA-FIRME COMMUNITY ON THE AMAZON ESTUARY By Neila Soares da Silva August 2004 Chair: Marianne Schmink Major Department: Center for Latin American Studies This thesis portrays the socioeconomic and political circumstances of a community of Amazonian peasants in relation to social transformations in Amazonia, from the end of the rubber boom in 1912 to the time of fieldwork, the summer of 2002. They are direct descendants of escaped slaves. Their history is analyzed by looking at changes in social relations of production and power relations, in various stages and forms of articulation