Amerindian poetics and paths of translation: perspectives from krahô ethnography

• Grant number: 22/14000-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): June 01, 2023
• Effective date (End): March 25, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Indigenous Ethnology
• Principal Investigator: Beatriz Perrone-Moisés
• Grantee: Ian Packer
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research project intends to develop and enhance some of the results of my doctoral research on the Krahô verbal arts (Timbira people living in the state of Tocantins/Brazil) through a new approach: what are the challenges involved in the textualization and literary translation of Amerindian verbal arts and how to establish parameters for their translation in portuguese? To this end, we intend to carry out, on the one hand, a critical study of several translation projects of Amerindian verbal arts that have been carried out in recent years not only by ethnologists and linguists, but also by indigenous and non-indigenous literature researchers, writers and poets; and, on the other hand, a series of translation exercises of my own research material, focusing on two main genres: the "Chant of the Small Ax", a long narrative chant with epic characteristics enunciated in two voices which tells the story of obtaining this important ritual artifact; and the "Maraca Chants", concise chants enunciated by a singer and a chorus of singers which depict the sensitive qualities and behaviours of a myriad of non-human beings. The overall objective is thus to contribute to the investigation of the relations and possible intersections between Americanist ethnology, linguistic anthropology and literary studies.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

IAN PACKER. O Canto da Machadinha: mito, ritual e história em um gênero de arte verbal krahô. Mana, v. 30, n. 1, 2024-05-10. (15/00760-0, 22/14000-1)