Etnográfica

Agora

Humberto Martins — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Inauguramos, com a publicação do terceiro número do volume 27 da Etnográfica, o novo website da Revista. O Agora (no duplo sentido de significação do tempo presente, do que está a acontecer, e como lugar público figurado de reunião e encontro) apresenta-se como um novo espaço de comunicação da Revista com dois objectivos simples: expandir criativamente as possibilidades de comunicar, alargando o espaço de recepção do conhecimento em, sobre e desde a antropologia. Apresentamo-lo simultaneamente como “uma ante, extra, exa e pós-Revista”; uma proposta editorial que é um desafio para editores, autores, revisores e leitores, porque arriscamos em novas modalidades de representação e de produção de conhecimento que desafiam os limites da convenção académica e científica. “Pisamos o risco”, com o propósito, que assumimos declaradamente, de ter uma Revista inclusiva, criativa, capaz de se pensar no universo do digital e de novos espaços de comunicação, que exigem, por exemplo, múltiplas temporalidades de escrita, de fala e de representação e tarefas de curadoria por parte dos diferentes editores das secções. Mas a criação do site constitui igualmente um desafio em termos de recepção criativa e participativa, apelando a formas de interactividade permanente e dinâmica com leitores e espectadores.

Seeing like a routier: routiers’ borderscapes between Southern Europe and West Africa

Pedro Figueiredo Neto, Ricardo Falcão — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Routier is the self-designation employed by Senegalese men driving decades-old vehicles overloaded with mostly second-hand items from Southern Europe to be sold in West Africa. This activity involves navigating a constellation of overlapping politico-administrative, socio-economic, cultural and geographical borders. Building on the concept of borderscapes, whose plasticity and aesthetic qualities allows us to interrogate diverse border universes, this essay visually explores routiers border(ing) enactments and contingent meanings. By seeing like a routier, the piece seeks to feed an on-going debate not only on how to depict borders writ large but also on how certain groups of people embody, see and are seen by contemporary borders.

Time to fix: repair heuristics in Estonia and Portugal

Francisco Martínez — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper discusses the relevance of repair actions for the maintenance of social bonds, suggesting that these interventions have heuristic possibilities to address the crises of our time. The general argument points to important questions, such as the distinction between caretaking, endurance and resilience. Building on a literature review and ten years of fieldwork in two different locations (Estonia and Portugal), it develops an argument for post-brokenness and repair as a heuristic of the contemporary social condition. The different examples here included show the complex temporality of fixing interventions as well as the urge to understanding contextual nuances of socio-material in/stability and damage. A multi-sited attention to fixing interventions allows us to comprehend the processes and conditions under which certain things acquire socio-material stability against the grain. In this sense, repair work is presented as socially and politically-loaded by putting things to some order, activating other kinds of relations and holding together different dimensions of care.

There is a life before activism: embodied emotions during the childhood and youth of activists related to gender, racism, and climate change matters in Portugal

Alix Didier Sarrouy — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

What is the influence of early life trajectories, filled with experiences, encounters and emotions, on young to-be activists? Based on qualitative research done for the project “ArtCitizenship – youth and the arts of citizenship: creative practices, participatory culture and activism” (2019-2022), this article looks into individual trajectories, during childhood and youth, of 30 activists in Portugal. The collected data presents a set of “before activism” categories that reveal the importance of including early-life experiences to better understand future involvement with activism and social movements. One is not born an activist, actions for a given cause are a response to cumulative interactions and emotions felt from very early years. It shows how bodily-inscribed are the personal experiences and how, more than an interest in activism, there can be a physical and emotional urge for it.

The pathways of fresh fish in artisanal fishing: a paradoxical maritime dimension

Pedro Pereira da Silva — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Nowadays fresh sea fish plays a very particular role as an identity marker in the context of the food systems of fishing communities. Given the relationship, continually reiterated by public discourse, between the benefits of its consumption and the paradigm of freshness, we find here a paradoxical intersection with the renewed movement to rediscover Portugal as an oceanic nation. From a holistic, ecological and cultural perspective, we propose here to reveal some moments of the transfiguration of the much-publicized “best fish in the world” along an intricate pathway, from its capture at sea to its presentation as an artisanal product of local origin. That widely reproduced magic motto: “From the sea, straight to your table!”

El sendero industrial del almidón nativo en Argentina: elecciones técnicas en una cooperativa de productores

Ana Padawer — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

El almidón de mandioca (Manihot esculenta, Cranz) se obtiene actualmente en Argentina mediante técnicas industriales de tratamiento de las raíces. Con ellas se produce la fécula conocida comercialmente como “nativa”, ya que se utilizaba para alimentación humana en América desde tiempos previos a la colonización europea. A diferencia de otros países de Latinoamérica donde la mandioca se ha patrimonializado a partir de la gastronomía de tradición indígena, en Argentina este cultivo ha seguido casi exclusivamente un sendero industrial modernizador, donde los pequeños productores descendientes de colonos europeos juegan un lugar protagónico. Mediante un trabajo etnográfico con una cooperativa de productores/as que elabora almidones, analizo algunas elecciones técnicas que realizaron los cooperativistas, resolviendo los problemas más importantes que emergieron transitando este sendero industrial en las últimas tres décadas, mediante comunidades de práctica articuladas dentro de las almidoneras.

Temporalidad de la cooperación comunitaria transnacional: impactos en la gobernanza comunitaria

Jorge Hernández-Diaz — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

En este texto discute la temporalidad de las relaciones entre los de migrantes y sus comunidades de origen. Basado en información de experiencias observadas en localidades de la microrregión Zoogocho en la región de la Sierra Norte de Oaxaca, México, se documentan los problemas que enfrenta la manutención de la gobernanza comunitaria a consecuencia del debilitamiento o desaparición de los apoyos sociales de los migrantes y de la disminución y envejecimiento de su población ocasionada por el proceso migratorio. El examen de estas relaciones permite poner de relieve la contingencia de aquellas relaciones que hasta hace poco hacían posibles acciones políticas transnacionales que han distinguido a las organizaciones de migrantes oaxaqueños.

A regime of terror for the Kaiowá indigenous people in contemporary Brazil (or analytic subjectivity and the comprehension of violence)

Alexandra Barbosa da Silva — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The focus of the present article is a regime that I analyze as one of terror, established for the management of relations in contemporary Brazil, fundamentally involving kaiowá indigenous communities in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. It is based on two interrelated axes: on the one hand, the consideration of the conditions of possibility of this regime, as well as the development process of its modus operandi. On the other, the methodological path which involves establishing as an anthropological issue the subjectivity of the analyst in understanding the acts of violence that provide the basis for such a regime. To this end, I contemplate indigenous manifestations and those of other agents, including my own perception of the facts, as an active participant anthropologist in the field of events.

Drifting as methodological (pre)disposition: ethnographic immersion and ontological engagement in a catholic spiritual practice

Luis Muñoz-Villalón — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Understanding ethnography as a privileged methodological situation in the production of anthropological knowledge, this paper reflects on Holbraad and Pedersen’s proposal for methodological intervention, in dialogue with phenomenology and the anthropology of embodiment. From these referents, the ways of approaching religious-spiritual experiences are questioned, with a critique of atheism and methodological agnosticism. As an alternative, and starting from authors who defend a phenomenological, embodied model of ethnography, which assumes the same ontological risks as those with whom we participate, I present my reflections from a radical immersion in a Catholic practice (of Ignatian spirituality). Surrender or drift, understood as (pre)disposition to “get lose”, becomes a critical issue in this model of experimentation that tries to overflow and play with the limits of possible ethnographies.

Shared vulnerabilities: from corporate groups to spiritual-functionalism among the Saamaka of Suriname

Rogério Brittes W. Pires — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The saamaka Mmroons of Suriname speak of many modes of agency of the dead. Among them, the kunu, avenging spirits which act matrilaterally, and the neseki, spiritual godparents which often act patrilaterally. In a way, both are able to connect people through their shared vulnerabilities – being potential victims of the same kunu makes people belong to their matrilineages; having the same neseki means having the same food taboos. Being exposed to the same dangers helps to counter-actualise relations of mutual protection, which may or may not create something like social groups. A saamaka theory of corporeality and corporation may thus be described as a kind of spiritual-functionalism, as their ideas ironically resonate with concepts central to classic anthropology (such as corporate groups and complementary filiation). However, different from functionalist theories, here spirits are deemed much more relevant than the agency of social structures.

Three women, one people: akuntsú stories

Carolina Coelho Aragon, Roslaine Mezacasa — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article addresses the history of three indigenous women, survivors of the Akuntsú people (Tupían). We present the historical background of their traditional territory, which was located between the Caubá and Trincheira rivers – tributaries of the Corumbiara river, a tributary of the Guaporé river, in Amazonia –, highlighting the intensive settlements that followed migratory waves of non-indigenous groups in different contexts throughout the 20^th century. Subsequently, we unfold Pugapia, Aiga, and Babawro’s pathways, who, currently, live on the banks of the Omerê river, in the Rio Omerê Indigenous Territory, Rondônia, Brazil. There, they have been expressing their knowledge in the manufacture of materialities, in food practices, and in contemporary care experiences. However, as described in this article, they carry with them narratives of persecutions and violence against their people.

Usos discursivos emergentes y prácticas comunicativas digitales entre los chanés

María Agustina Morando — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

El surgimiento de las nuevas tecnologías masivas de la información y la comunicación ha dado origen a nuevos espacios discursivos, y las lenguas indígenas de Sudamérica no han quedado al margen de estos procesos. El propósito de este trabajo es realizar una revisión preliminar acerca de los usos discursivos que los chanés del noroeste argentino hacen de su lengua y del castellano valiéndose de estos nuevos espacios comunicativos, poniendo especial énfasis en la utilización contemporánea de las redes sociales. La relación entre lengua y estos modos de comunicación es compleja dado que la naturaleza mediada de estos intercambios plantea la posibilidad de interactuar con un interlocutor que está físicamente ausente. Además, pretendemos abordar los modos en los que esos espacios discursivos se consolidan en la actualidad como un vector de comunicación relevante, tomando como ejemplo la creación y circulación de información sobre la prevención de la Covid-19 bilingüe en guaraní chaqueño y castellano.

O “segredo invisível” da amizade: cinco cartas de Ernesto Veiga de Oliveira para Jorge Dias (1961)

João Leal, Catarina Belo — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Em 1960, deu-se uma viragem importante na atividade “metropolitana” da equipa de Jorge Dias (1907-1973), baseada no Centro de Estudos de Etnologia Peninsular (CEEP).1 Desde 1953 que essa pesquisa tinha sido assegurada por Ernesto Veiga de Oliveira (1910-1990) e Fernando Galhano (1904-1995), a quem se juntou, a partir de 1959, Benjamim Pereira (1928-2020). Jorge Dias, que estivera até 1953 muito ativo na pesquisa de campo em Portugal, torna-se a partir de então menos presente nessa frente de trabalho.

An anthropological perspetive on biodiverse forests: resurgences of ruined landscapes by eucalyptus monoculture

Susana Matos Viegas — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Diversity has been addressed by several areas of knowledge. However, anthropology is responsible for offering decentered perspectives on its historical existence. In this article I mobilize ethnographic knowledge from contexts that I know through fieldwork experience – indigenous people in the Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia and the fataluku, integrating the Southeast Asia region (Timor-Leste) – to reinforce historicities of experience of the landscape that result in biodiverse landscapes. I show the relevance of relationalities for the emergence of this biodiversity, in line with studies on anthropogenic forests. This perspective feeds a critical reflection on the eucalyptus territory in Portugal, showing the unviability of monoculture trees – the reproduction of the similar in the soil – as synonymous with forest. I consequently address critically the public debates on forest (and wildfires) in Portugal that consider forest to be the intensive cultivation of trees in monoculture, arguing that resurgences of biodiversity will have to result from decompositions of diverse relationalities.