Wai-Mahsã: peixes e humanos. Um ensaio de Antropologia Indígena

Abstract

This dissertation is a preliminary reflection on Tukanoan knowledge about the relationship between human and non human, beyond the mythic narratives. It is focused on the distinction between the categories of wai-mahsã (invisible humans) and wai (fish). The wai-mahsãare human beings dwelling the domains of earth, forest, air and water. They have got the faculty of metamorphosis and camouflage, assuming (dressing) the form of animals and fishes, and acquiring their traits and physical skills. They are also the source of knowledge: Tukanoan specialists (yai, kumu and baya) must communicate with them, and from them they get their knowledge. The category of wai (fish), unlike some anthropological conclusions, does not have anthropocentric attributes, in other words, it does not have the status of people. For Tukanoan, fishes never had a human condition, even in their mythic origin. Contrariwise, their genesis is often related to discarded things: wood debris, objects and ornaments dismissed by waimahsã, discarded and rotten parts of human body, etc. This dissertation is also an attempt to undo the misunderstanding between the concepts of wai-mahsã and wai.