Gender, power, and mobility among the Awá-Guajá (Maranhão, Brazil)
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University of Chicago Press
Abstract
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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.
Fil: Hernando, Almudena. Universidad Complutense de Madrid; España
Fil: Politis, Gustavo Gabriel. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Fil: González Ruibal, Alfredo. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España
Fil: Beserra Cohelo, Elizabeth. Universidad Federal do Maranhão; Brasil
Fil: Hernando, Almudena. Universidad Complutense de Madrid; España
Fil: Politis, Gustavo Gabriel. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Fil: González Ruibal, Alfredo. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España
Fil: Beserra Cohelo, Elizabeth. Universidad Federal do Maranhão; Brasil
Keywords
Awa-Guaja, Egalitarian Societies, Gender, Personhood, https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1, https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6