Etnografias sobre humanos e não humanos: Limites e possibilidades

Abstract

The text is an analysis about the limits and possibilities of using the ethnographic method in researches with emphasis in chimpanzee behavior. To do this, we present some considerations about ideas of “culture” used in primatology and then we compare those with current conceptions of culture used in sociocultural anthropology. Next, we analyze the context of research in which the primatologists affirm the existence of “chimpanzee cultures”, the relations of objectivity, subjectivity and anthropomorphism in primatological research with emphasis in behavior. Last, we evaluate the propositions based on the viability of knowledge production about collectivities constituted by humans and non-human animals considering the perspectives of sociocultural anthropology and primatology and emphasizing ethnography and ethnoprimatology.