Noções de corporalidade e pessoa entre os Jodï

Abstract

The present work is an ethnography of notions of corporality and personhood among the Jodi, (a Native American group of around 900 people) in the Serra Maigualida in the Guyana region of Veneauelan. Here, we offer a synoptic ethnographic interpretation of the significant aspects of the mythological discourses and bodi rites which permit speculation regarding human protology and eschatology as illustrated by certain practices (prediction, hunting and the spatialization of time). The theoretical premises utilized here, associated with perspectivism, explore three Jodi dynamics: 1) The spatial distribution of primordial and current time: 2) The value of sound and its counterpoint, silence; and 3) The notion of alterity as consubstantiated with animals, arthopods, plants and funguses to such a degree that the very borders of personhood become fuzzed. It is this article's objective to establish causal linkages between Jodi ideals and practices in order to better comprehend that people's ecological conduct.