Donos, detentores e usuários da arte gráfica kusiwa

Abstract

Among the effects brought about by the kusiwa graphic art forms being registered by Iphan and recognized as Intangible Heritage by Unesco is the intense process of reflection that the young Wajãpi have developed concerning the transformation of their practices of knowledge, authorship and property. This article focuses on the connections and translations operated by these youngsters, while dialoguing with the elders about current contexts of appropriation and circulation of graphic patterns, images and other valuable knowledge. If the category of owners/masters of specific domains is clearly put and easily enunciated in traditional modes, as well as connected with conceptions of personhood, its translation into a new regime, in which ethnic or political groups affirm themselves either as “owners” or as “guardians” of these cultural manifestations and knowledge, make the authority regimes more complex and give rise to interesting debates between different generations, as well as among different agents with whom the Wajãpi are currently involved.