Munduruku Cosmopolitics and the Struggle for Life

Abstract

The mythical narratives of the Munduruku people in the Tapajós region are permeated by metamorphic transformations from humans to nonhuman beings into vegetables, animals, or spirits. Today, while these beings live as other forms in the world they still have an agency in the lives of humans and can intervene directly in the social life of the villages. The Munduruku strategies used to negotiate with these beings undergo ritualized actions that are also part of everyday life. Most of these actions are intended to bring joy to the spirits, who in return provide them with an abundance of food from the fields, hunt, and fish. This cosmopolitical relationship with these beings, however, is today threatened in the face of logging and mining operations that are advancing on indigenous lands. The pursuit of the defense and demarcation of the territory, in this sense, is intrinsically linked to the sacred places and to nonhuman beings that help to direct the strategies of struggle and political resistance. Thus, the war that the Munduruku people face is to protect the multiple worlds or existing plans, the multiple histories and scenarios where they live.