“THE SCIENCE OF TRADITION”: heritage and transmission of knowledge among the Jiripankó indigenous people.
Knowledge. Ethnicity. Jiripankó. Heritage. Tradition.
Territorially located in the rural area of the municipality of Pariconha, in the upper Sertão de Alagoas, the Jiripankó indigenous people have their history permeated by multiple processes of comings and goings, continuities and discontinuities and political, religious, cultural strategies. In addition to a complex religious and ritualistic system, called by the ethnic group “science of tradition”, which shapes and builds their identities and reinforces ethnic belonging. The ritualistic events, open to group members, relatives and non-indigenous people, are spaces for establishing a link with the sacred – the Enchanted Ones, beings who protect and guide the Jiripankó, with the payment of promises, the fulfillment of others, asking for advice and guidance and building political and religious alliances. In this research, I aim to investigate how the “science of tradition” is a heritage for the Jiripankó. I will describe how this heritage is involved in symbolic processes and carries meanings, produced historically and in specific situations and contexts. From two rituals, Menino do Rancho and Corridas do Umbu, I intend to explore how the meanings of tradition are elaborated. In addition to identifying the management of this heritage, through the transmission of knowledge. To do so, I will carry out a qualitative ethnography, with participant observation, conducting interviews, ethnophotographic and videographic recording, preparation of a field diary and research in collections and public archives. Still in the methodology, due to sanitary circumstances, I will use digital ethnography to produce data, based on communication with the members of the group and the investigation of their publications on social networks, mainly in posts with the theme of rituals. As a theoretical-methodological basis, I will use the studies and reflections of: Claudia Mura (2013), Fredrik Barth (2005; 2011; 2003), João Pacheco de Oliveira (1999; 2004; 1988; 2016), José Adelson Lopes Peixoto (2018a ; 2018b; 2019; 2020), José Maurício Arruti (1996; 1995), José Reginaldo Santos Gonçalves (1996; 2012; 2009), Laurajane Smith (2006; 2017), Siloé Amorim (2017; 2003) and Yuri Rodrigues (2020) . Finally, this research will present a portion of the extremely rich cosmology of the Jiripankó, and its composition as Heritage, presenting its mechanisms and organizations, dating from different capillaries. The religious tradition of the Jiripankó is experienced in everyday life and, mainly, through rituals, thus the techniques of transmission of knowledge are used, for the continuity of that tradition.