Figura e fundo no pensamento cigano contra o Estado

Abstract

This article aims to explore the current relevance and meanings of Pierre Clastres’s notion of “society against the State” for an ethnographic account of a Calon Gypsy kinship network throughout the state of São Paulo, in Brazil. It is indeed possible to argue, based on fieldwork data, that the Calon context reveals a “sociality against the State” that surpasses both the most evident analogies between Calon and Amerindian chiefs, and the common sense imaginary of a nomadic, “outlaw” life liberated from society’s rules. In order to access it, one has to deepen ethnography and explore the fundamental categories of Calon thought, especially those concerning their relations with brasileiros [Brazilians], i.e. gadje [non-Gypsies]. The Calon think of themselves as living in a world that belongs to brasileiros, but in which they make themselves Calon. Categories such as vergonha [shame] – regarding the feminine body – and sozinho [lonely] – as opposed to their life among their relatives – in addition to onomastics and time-space conceptualizations, allow one to access the Calon notions of personhood and sociality against a gadje-State.