Waiwai komo yîhcamnopura natu cehtoponhîrî komo: Krapa waiwî poko Arco e Flecha: Mémoria e continuidades das transformações Waiwai

Abstract

This dissertation examines the place of the krapa-waiwî (bow and arrow) among the Waiwai (yana komo), employing the operational chain as a methodological approach to understand the importance of this artifact in the life, resilience, and history of the Waiwai people. By bringing these elements together, the research contributes to narrating both ancient and contemporary histories of the Wayamu Territory, in the Guiana region, including cosmologies, cosmo-techniques, mythologies, and ways of life. The study was conducted primarily in the Trombetas-Mapuera and Wai-Wai Indigenous Lands, in the state of Roraima, Brazil. It examines ancestral knowledge related to the production and use of the bow and arrow, including the search for materials, the domains of the forest, and the material and immaterial elements involved. The methodology combines anthropological approaches with a ―Waiwai methodology,‖ grounded in conversations, the recollection of stories, interviews, and close observation of artifact production, in dialogue with Waiwai specialists. The work also explores the connections between humans, other-than-human beings, and forest elements, with particular attention to an arboreal amphibian known to the Waiwai as knawaru (Trachycephalus cunauaru), and to a specific category of plants called naatî, which I translate as ―plant-person.‖ By weaving these dimensions together, the research contributes to narrating both ancient and contemporary histories, reaffirming the author‘s commitment to producing outcomes directed toward his own people, Waiwai schools, and the field of anthropology, while documenting knowledge that remains in constant transformation.