Perspectiva etnoentomológica tariana

Abstract

This dissertation addresses traditional knowledge of the Tariana about insects, especially those concerning ecological, cultural and mythical meanings. As with other peoples of the Upper Rio Negro, among the Tariana traditional knowledge is also transmitted orally from generation to generation. As the Tariana language is threatened with disappearing, there is a risk that its cultural heritage will also be lost. This compilation of the ethnoentomological knowledge of the Tariana meets part of this demand. The Tariana classify insects and other invertebrates as omanakã – small animals. The relationships of insects with the daily activities of the ethnic group are described, whether they are useful or harmful, their use as food, therapeutic uses, as they are approached in supernatural aspects (in the field of magical and/or malefic powers), to which demiurges are associated, the cultural uses (dances and rituals). The exposure of this knowledge culturally strengthens the Tariana ethnicity, adding more information to the extensive mosaic of knowledge already available about the peoples of Rio Negro. The work also addresses the Tariana as an ethnic group, the history of language assimilation and the dissemination of knowledge of the peoples of the Upper Rio Negro; the variety of ecological and behavioral knowledge used as parameters of the categories that form the ethnoclassification is described; it exposes how these animals are important in cooking, in blessings in general, as ecological indicators (time and seasons) and how insects are represented in Tarian myths; it is reported how insects are addressed in blessing practices, especially those aimed at prevention and protection; myths are also described that include insects as guides to the Tariana's daily behavior. The text emphasizes that the role of the omanakã as agents in the blessings is based on traditional knowledge, ethnotaxonomy and the ecology of insects; this application is not only supported by mythology, but also comes from taxonomic knowledge and behavioral aspects derived from ecological and toxicological knowledge. The research developed is of an eminently anthropological nature, but aims to unify the dialogue between Ethnobiology, Anthropology and indigenous cultures, as indicated by the results obtained. In addition to the mystical characteristics, the Tariana are also great empirical experts in the Biology and Ecology of animals, a scenario that is evident when it is verified that the use of insects in blessings is based on aspects of the fields of Anthropology and Ethnobiology. Factors related to Biology are often not covered in anthropological works, whose analyzes focus more on the abstract and the symbolic. In this way, the work exposes how the mystical issues of Tarian knowledge are closely linked with biological and ecological themes, that is, two worldviews that complement each other. The text also highlights how blessings and rites of passage, for example, cannot be dissociated from ethnoclassification, a concrete aspect of the use of biological properties – such as knowledge about the agency resulting from poisons and aggression. In this way, the importance of taking into account traditional knowledge as a source of scientific knowledge is evident, opening a free and open dialogue between indigenous empirical knowledge and the academic qualification of the biologist and the humanist training of the anthropologist.