CEstA Duo with Ana Coutinho (presenter) and Camila de Caux (commentator)
November 28, 2025, at 5:30 PM
CEstA Headquarters: Rua do Anfiteatro, 181, Colmeia - Favo 8
Cidade Universitária, São Paulo-SP
Glimpses and Secret Voices: Ethnographic Notes on Women and Enemies in the Tawã Ritual among the Apyãwa-Tapirapé (Middle Araguaia)
Based on fieldwork conducted among the Apyãwa (Tapirapé), a Tupi-Guarani people inhabiting the Serra do Urubu Branco in northeastern Mato Grosso state, we propose a more detailed analysis of the relationships that women establish with the spirits of their enemies, annual visitors to the ceremonial house (Takãra). The Apyãwa (Tapirapé) were ethnographically studied in the late 1930s by Charles Wagley, who dedicated himself to the study of shamanism. Herbert Baldus, in turn, researched various aspects of Tapirapé "social life," with an emphasis on so-called material culture. In both works, there are some mentions of the shamanic qualities of women, known as koxymaxe. However, the role of women in rituals (festivals) was not adequately emphasized. In this presentation, we propose an analysis of the role of women and their "generative" knowledge in one of the most central rituals for the Apyãwa—the ritual (festival) of the enemy, Tawã-Rarywa. We intend to deepen the investigation into the modes and degrees of intensity with which the relationships between women and the spirits of enemies are experienced. These relationships maintain a constant ambiguity between care, adoption, and danger, ultimately effected by the ritual acts of looking and speaking in secret. In addressing the relationship between women and the spirit of the enemy, we propose a contribution to the ethnological literature on contemporary T.G.
Ana Coutinho is conducting postdoctoral research at CEBRAP-MECILA-USP on the Ype/Cara-Gra-Grande masks of the Apyãwa-Tapirapé, which are currently found in various ethnographic museums in Brazil and abroad. She holds a doctorate in Social Anthropology from PPGAS-Museu Nacional (UFRJ) and is a member of the Laboratory of Ritual Anthropology and Memory (LARMe) at the same institution. She has field experience in the Médio-Araguaia region and participates in the collaborative project for the elaboration and construction of the Apyãwa-Tapirapé Museum at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF).
Camila de Caux holds a doctorate and master's degree from the Postgraduate Program in Social Anthropology at the Museu Nacional/UFRJ and a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from UFMG. She works and researches in partnership with the Araweté people in the middle course of the Xingu River, in Pará, currently collaborating in the creation of a community archive. She is conducting postdoctoral research in the Department of Anthropology at USP (University of São Paulo) with archival research on the 16th-century Tupi peoples, particularly on their conceptions of gender, substance(s), and corporeality. She is an associate researcher at the Center for Amerindian Studies (CEstA-USP).
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