Gender, power, and mobility among the Awá-Guajá (Maranhão, Brazil)

The Awá (also known as Guajá) are hunter-gatherers whose way of life prior to their first contact with Brazilian society has been altered after relocation to a reservation. Basically, their mobility is reduced and they have been forced to start cultivation. Although these changes are beginning to af...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Hernando, Almudena, Politis, Gustavo Gabriel, González Ruibal, Alfredo, Beserra Cohelo, Elizabeth
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/33519
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/33519
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Awa-Guaja
Egalitarian Societies
Gender
Personhood
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6
Descripción
Sumario:The Awá (also known as Guajá) are hunter-gatherers whose way of life prior to their first contact with Brazilian society has been altered after relocation to a reservation. Basically, their mobility is reduced and they have been forced to start cultivation. Although these changes are beginning to affect women's social role, the traditional power relationships can still be inferred from the present conditions. The aim of this paper is twofold: (1) to argue that, in otherwise "egalitarian" societies, the differences in physical mobility involved in the complementary tasks carried out by men and women may account for gender inequality on the symbolic domain, given that mobility is a key factor in the construction of personhood in contexts of "relational, "non-individualized identity; and (2) to check the validity ofthat assumption in the light of fieldwork data about gender relationships among the Awá-Guajá.