Terra Verde: temporality and Kiriri person

• Grant number: 20/10485-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2021
• End date: August 13, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Rural Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Emilia Pietrafesa de Godoi
• Grantee: Fernanda Borges Henrique
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/07467-3 - The desire to tell a new story: the Kiriri of Acré and the memory inscribed in the land, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This research project regards the Kiriri indigenous people of Rio Verde who, coming from Muquém do São Francisco, West of Bahia, occupied, at the beginning of 2017, a land in the South of Minas Gerais, in the rural neighborhood Rio Verde, municipality of Caldas/MG. The permission to remain in the locality, which has its legal owner the state of Minas Gerais, was granted by the true owner of the land: an ancient Tapuia who appeared in Ciência, an important Kiriri ritual carried out in the forest. In this ritual, Tapuia stated that in exchange for the permanence, the Kiriri should take care of the springs and forests in the locality. It is also in Ciência, when the Kiriri come into contact with their encantados, that the Kiriri person is built. Still, as they say, the Kiriri child who is born, baptized, and grows in Rio Verde, participating in the rituals of Ciência and Toré, will be able to better tell the story of the place. In this sense, this project aims to understand how the construction of the person is linked to the land and the historicity of the Kiriri, showing a specific temporality. Hence, it is intended to understand how the construction of person is closely linked to the rituals, a time when the Kiriri politics is evidenced. In addition, to become a leader, the Kiriri chief of Rio Verde left Muquém do São Francisco, walking in search of a new land for his people. After finding the Terra Verde in the south of Minas Gerais, the leadership claims to be starting its history, and he wants his story to be told from the south of Minas Gerais onwards. Therefore, we have an articulation between time, land, walking, and the construction of leaderships that take place along the way. Taking this into account, we will explore the equation land, person, and time. This project is a continuation of the previous research done in the master's degree with FAPESP scholarship. (AU)