Wenía: o surgimento dos antepassados - Leitura e tradução de um canto narrativo ameríndio (Marubo, Amazônia Ocidental)

Abstract

resumo Este trabalho compreende a tradução bilíngue inédita, as notas e o estudo de apresentação da narrativa cantada Wenía, dos Marubo da Terra Indígena Vale do Javari (Amazonas). A narrativa, que trata do surgimento dos antepassados, é fundamental para a compreensão dos processos classificatórios e etiológicos envolvidos no pensamento xamanístico e na etnogênese marubo. No ensaio de apresentação, são abordados alguns dos problemas conceituais aí envolvidos, tais como o estatuto da metáfora, das formas de classificação e dos processos de surgimento sobre os quais se dedica a poética narrativa marubo.

Amazonian shamanic enquiry: formulaic composition and specialized discourse

“…(The others, the kenchintxo, would be better called prayers, whose doubles/souls do not leave their bodies/houses to establish relations with the spirits.) However, the most common case is long training, whose characteristics I have described in another study (Cesarino 2011). What are the primary goals of this training?…”

“…The excerpts were taken from longer sequences related to different verbal modes: 'Emergence of the shamans' , performed by Armando, belongs to the narrative mode (saiti) and concerns the formation of spirit-shamans; 'Song of the Armadillo spirit' , performed by the Armadillo spirit through the body of Lauro Brasil, corresponds to the reportative mode (iniki) (Cesarino 2011: 265), whereas the 'Formation of the Mist-Land' (Cesarino 2013: 69), which also belongs to the narrative mode, explains how the world came into being through the agency of demiurgic spirits Kana Voã, Koa Voã, and Koin Voã. I consider Marubo verbal arts to be a multimodal system (Cesarino 2011;2018b) because its formulaic repertoire can be directed towards different objectives depending on the ritual performance. The term mode is used to replace the notion of genre, which could imply a strict division of the verbal arts.…”

“…Let us examine in more detail one of the modes of the formulaic system, the 'speculative' , which is employed in long conversations and testimonies (analysed and translated by me in Cesarino 2011). In this mode, Marubo shamans usually reflect on topics such as the formation of the world, the emergence of spirits and aggressive agents, the various diagnoses for diseases and their treatments, as well as other phenomena such as the formation of whites and their things and temporal changes.…”

“…The sung mythical narratives (saiti) that support them are no less vast: of the nearly 200 episodes recorded by a singer, the one referring to the emergence of the world (Naí Mai Vana) could, if performed in its entirety, have approximately 2,000 verses. Only a small portion of this set is translated in my works (especially in Cesarino 2011;2013;2018a). Marubo shamanic poetics is concerned with identifying and monitoring the proliferation of potential agents and enunciators in the cosmos, in order to deal with transformations and challenges imposed on life among relatives.…”

“…Marubo is an agglutinative language with a SOV prevalent word order. I have published several articles and two books (Cesarino 2011;2013) dedicated to Marubo shamanism and cosmology, where some of the translations analysed here originally appeared. The research I carried out from 2004 to 2009 was funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, CNRS (bourse Legs Lelong), FAPERJ, and CNPq.…”