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.
Kalapalo wrestlers at dawn during an egitsü mortuary ritual. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
Aerial view of the Aiha village. Photo credit: Thomaz Pedro.
Collective fishing with net for a mortuary ritual. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
A bundle of timbó, a vine used to poison fish during dam fishing. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
Collective fishing in a lake with spears and arrows. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
Elder extracting poison from the timbó to make it easier to catch fish during a collective fishing for the egitsü mortuary ritual. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
Special food for guests: fish, specially prepared manioc bread, and souari nut pulp. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
Elder making a kusu fishing basket used by women. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
Utu fishing trap, used in streams and shallow areas of lakes. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
Fish being prepared in a fishing camp. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
A young boy on a canoe during a fishing expedition in one of the many lakes near Aiha village. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
Young boy caught a fish with traditional bow and arrow technique. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
Nduhe, the dance of the Fish People. Photo credit: Marina Pereira Novo.
Children play with a pair of Jakuikatu, masks of underwater spirit-beings. Photo credit: Thomaz Pedro.
Young boy catching a small dogfish. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
Collective fishing in a lake with spears. Photo credit: Marina Novo and Antonio Guerreiro.
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.