Intrusion and deforestation in the Alto Rio Guamá Indigenous Land (TIARG), in Pará: impacts on the Tembé-Tenetehar bioculturality of Guamá

Abstract

This work discusses the importance of biodiversity for the Tembé bioculturality of the reserveTerra Indígena Alto Rio Guamá (TIARG). Since the relocation of the Tembé-Tenetehar to TIARG, they stopped carrying out their ancestral practices and speaking their own language, which lasted for around 60 years. During this time, the territory was invaded by farmers, settlers and loggers, and the forests were replaced by pastures, monocultures and agricultural activities, at the expense of the destruction of animals and plants associated to Tembé bioculturality. The objective of this study is to analyze the impacts of changes in TIARG biodiversity on Tembé-Tenetehar biocultural practices. The research has a qualitative-descriptive approach and is based on bibliographic, documentary and field research. Among the factors that led to the cultural silencing of the Tembé-Tenetehar for years, we highlight in this article the perception of the destruction of forests and, therefore, of plants and animals that are essential to carrying out their biocultural practices. The reduction in biodiversity has caused changes in the performance of rituals, which has been evidenced through the temporary or definitive replacement of biocultural elements necessary to carry out these rituals. This work invites us to reflect on the importance of encouraging indigenous people to rescue their forgotten practices, with the support of public policies that guarantee the constitutional right to the conservation of biodiversity in TIARG, to the maintenance of the forest standing and, consequently, to the perpetuation of the ancestral biocultural practices of the Tembé people.