Abstract

BARBOSA RIBEIRO, Rodrigo. Avá [online]. 2011, n.19, pp.00-00. ISSN 1851-1694.

The Maxakali people speaks a language which belongs to the Macro-Gê linguistic branch and lives in the Maxakali Indian Land and in other two Indian Reserves, all situated in northeast Minas Gerais State. I intend to treat the imaginary present in the yãmiyxop here, a term that makes reference to the collective of animals and ancestral spirits, as well as the ritual and chants made in honor of them. The analysis of the yãmiyxop shows the existence of an almost encyclopedic knowledge about Atlantic Forest beings, even after Brazilian colonizers put the forest down at the beginning of XX century, letting only grass in their place. In addition, there are some images related to the colonizer's world in the yãmiyxop, such as: trips made by airplanes, drinking of alcoholic beverages and even fences that protect private farms. In short, the yãmiyxop shows up a rich and plural universe, in which the "nature" of beings is apprehended differently from Occidental science.

Keywords : Indigenous society (Maxakali); Imaginary; Colonialism.

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