This project aims to document the traditional fishing technologies of the Kalapalo, a Carib-speaking people from the Southern Amazon who inhabit the region known as the Upper Xingu, in Central Brazil. The Kalapalo have chosen fishing as a pivot of their way of building relationships with nature and with other peoples. Their traditional fishing technologies are based on fish traps, dams, and fishing nets made from different plant materials, comprise a vast ecological knowledge of the fish species of the Xingu River basin, and are intertwined with intangible knowledge such as songs and prayers. However, this system of material knowledge is severely threatened by environmental changes resulting both from human actions affecting the headwaters of their rivers and from climate change. With fishing and its traditional technologies threatened, not just a way of subsistence is at risk, but an entire way of life. Through audiovisual recordings, the production of maps and ethnographic descriptions, this project aims to document this threatened system of traditional fishing technologies, in all its dimensions, contributing to its preservation for future generations.

Principal Investigator:
Antonio Roberto Guerreiro Júnior

Collaborators:
Marina Pereira Novo and Ugise Kalapalo

Research Assistants:
Veronica Monachini de Carvalho and Tauana Kalapalo

Location of Research: 
Aiha village, Xingu Indigenous Territory, Brazil

Host Institution:
State University of Campinas – Unicamp, Brazil

Top Banner Image: Kalapalo fishing camp at dawn. Photo credit: Thomaz Pedro.