'Food places' as biocultural legacies in transformation among the Waiwai people in the Trombetas-Mapuera Indigenous Land

• Grant number: 24/13606-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Celia Regina Tomiko Futemma
• Grantee: Sara Deambrozi Coelho
• Host Institution: Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais (NEPAM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The landscapes used by indigenous peoples in Amazonia and their involvement with material and immaterial aspects are striking features of indigenous territoriality and understood as biocultural legacies of these peoples. Mostly of this biocultural legacy is locally understood as 'food places', which are landscapes with food plants, culturally important, and transformed by indigenous peoples over generations. However, changes in indigenous social institutions and modern economic interventions can alter and threaten, respectively, such socio-ecological systems. Using a historical-ecological and anthropological approach, I propose to investigate how 'food places' have been transformed in the Trombetas-Mapuera Indigenous Land since the archaeological past, and the Waiwai perspective about such transformations. Specifically, this study aims to document the history of 'food places', analyze changes in the composition of food plant species and the use of 'food places', and the Waiwai's perceptions about these landscapes' transformations. To achieve the aims of this study, I propose a transdisciplinary, intercultural and collaborative approach between indigenous and non-indigenous researchers, using bibliographical research, ethnographic and ethnoecological methods and remote sensing. Understanding the transformations of biocultural legacies and local perceptions associated with 'food places' can contribute to understand the importance of Waiwai cultural expressions and the maintenance of these legacies in current landscapes in indigenous territories and for society, in the current context of global environmental changes.