Of life and happiness : morality, aesthetics, and social life among the southeastern Amazonian Mebengokré (Kayapó), as seen from the margins of ritual

Abstract

This thesis deals with different aspects of the processes of production of sociability among the Xikrin-Mebengokré of the Cateté River, central Brazil. I focus on ceremonies and their performance, as ways of access to Mebengokré conceptions concerning the morality and aesthetics of social life. I analyse the semiotics of ‘kin’-ship production, the performative aspects of emotion as a sociability tool, the use of song and dance for the co-ordination of collective technical tasks, and a Mebengokré ‘theory of language’ as social agency. In the conclusion I focus on the criticism of some of the key theoretical aspects of Ge ethnology, in the light of my previous analysis.