A monetarização da vida social dos Paiter Suruí

Abstract

The article analyses the mechanisms of stability and change in indigenous communities, triggered by the current process of economic growth. The survey was realized among the Suruí, whose territory is located between the states of Rondǒnia and Mato Grosso, in Brazil. This people stand out for its ability to liaison with various groups in society. With a past marked by timber exploration and intrusion of settlers on indigenous land, nowadays the Suruí conjugates trajectories and temporalities that connect and disconnect from relational intensification with non-indigenous. The chosen methodology was the case study, with participant observation and the application of interviews. The results point to the current and engaging process of monetization of the social life of the Suruí people, but consider that the rationality of the market is not unidirectional. It not only coexists with traditional activities, like craftwork, but also interacts with the indigenous logic, represented by the cultural fair, where the sociality of Paiter Suruí and the reproduction of market inside the indigenous villages are mixed. Finally, the article points out the Suruí pre-existing experience of reciprocity through the practice of donation, prior to contact with non-indigenous.