Abstract:
The research deals with how menstruation is experienced among Karipuna indigenous women. Menstruation for the Karipuna has to do with the break from childhood to adulthood; with the healthy formation of the female body and the improvement of its gender; with the onset of sexuality; with weddings; with pregnancy; with care for cleaning the territory and cosmopolitical relations with the karuãnas “owners of places”. From this study I seek to understand, how is menstruation in Karipuna cosmology? What are their characteristics and meanings? What are the historical transformations that occurred in relation to it? As part of these debates, the author's own reports on her djispoze or lalin (menstruation) and her interrelations between the Karipuna way of menstruating and the non-indigenous way of menstruating are also included.
Keywords:
Karipuna do Amapá; menstruation; menarche; indigenous women; gender