Pintura Corporal do Povo Kanamari do Rio Japurá

Abstract

The body painting of the Kanamari people has its roots in the representation of animals, created by Tamakuri (God) when creating the world, the Tüküna (people) and then the animals with different colors and paintings. The Kanamari, who have always enjoyed observing animals, turned their attention to their shapes and colors, starting the practice of painting their own bodies. The objective of this research was to record and disseminate the way in which the Kanamari people of the São Francisco village maintain the culture of body painting, an ancestral practice valued by the knowledge of today's elders, young people and children. The question that motivated this ethnography was: Why is the practice of painting the body, considered a Kanamari garment, being silenced? How was painting used in the past and how is it used today? What were the main factors of this fragility? The research developed here results from the continuation of research carried out during the undergraduate period, when it had no anthropological basis. Upon entering the master's degree in Social Anthropology, the research began to rely on a theoretical methodological basis from the field of Anthropology, in the form of a specific ethnography on Kanamari body painting. Part of this work involved the community and students in the 6th and 7th years of Elementary and High School. Interviews were carried out with the elders, observations through coexistence in the village and practical field activities involving the elders. Furthermore, photographs were used to record how the Kanamari of Japurá make and teach their children how to paint and paint themselves. Body painting is very significant for the Kanamari people, as when they paint themselves they establish a relationship with the sacred, connecting directly with nature. It expresses their cultural identity, which is common among many peoples. Painting has its own meanings and serves for communication and physical beautification. For the Kanamari, painting themselves means dressing up in their identity, showing that they have a soul and transcending towards the sacred. Furthermore, there are elements exclusive to the use of certain clans that make up their ancestral ethnic identity. The study showed that there is a process of strengthening the practice of painting the body among the Kanamari, resulting from work carried out by teachers