Beleza e perigo: domínio, maestria e tradição cesteira ye'kuana

Abstract

This master thesis presents a study of the Ye'kuana an indigenous group, currently living in villages spread along the northwestern area of the brazilian state of Roraima and southern Venezuela , whose language is classified in the carib linguistic family, focusing in theensemble of knowledges and practices associated with their basketry tradition and their cosmology. It aims to provide a literature review of this topic as well as relate the basketry activity to some contemporary issues in Americanist ethnology, such as the indigenous category usually translated as owner or master, sociocosmic agency and predation, and in the Anthropology of Art, such as the agency of objects, beauty and productivity, figuration of the invisible and perception alteration techniques. The thesis also aims to offer some clues and contributions to the field of study of technologic processes among the indigenous people in lowland South America, and to the criticism of anthropological practice itself. Ultimately, it suggests some contributions, through comparing the ye'kuana artistic productions to the wayana ones, for the ethnological research among indigenous groups in the Guiana Shield.