The Indigenous Time Markers: Ethnomathematics and The Tapirapé's Astronomy.

• Grant number: 11/20754-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): August 14, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Fundamentals of Education
• Principal Investigator: Ubiratan D´Ambrosio
• Grantee: João Severino Filho
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Tapirapé people dwell two Indigenous Lands (IL), the IL Tapirapé / Karajá and the IL Urubu Branco. Both of them are located in the Middle Araguaia, Mato Grosso. Actually, it is estimated that there are 700 Tapirapé Indians inhabiting both of these territories. There is evidence of this occupation in documents dating from the early sixteenth century. Tapirapé ceremonial cycles consist of various rituals carried out at different times, when the amount and type of food consumed traditionally be available. The environmental characteristics and the position of the constellations in the sky determine the moment to perform the rituals and festivals, key elements of indivisibility of the society and the environment. This research aims to provide a set of studies and reflections about the indigenous people knowledge and their epistemologies. It also will be perceived by the description of the meaning of astronomical phenomena, observed and identified by Tapirapé people, from the cosmologies and rituals narrative, and the relationships they establish with their daily activities. The research methodology is qualitative and it has ethnography approach. The reality studied will be described from the point of view of Tapirapé, by the observations of the gestures, speeches, decisions and influences that the astronomical phenomena has on the daily life of the community. The Ethnomathematics, as a Research Program (D'Ambrosio, 2002), represents the main axis that drives the reflections about the reality. It recognizes the production of knowledge and the meaning resulting from the own conception about the time of this societies, and the environment of everyday life, such as joints of mathematical thought

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SEVERINO FILHO, João. Marcadores de tempo Apyãwa: a solidariedade entre os povos e o ambiente que habitam. 2015. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas. Rio Claro Rio Claro.