Abstract:
The present article focuses on mortuary events cross cut by acts of colonization. Based on the complexity created by these intersections, we explore an ethnographic notion of catastrophe. Among the indigenous peoples of the "Complexo do Marico" (Maldi 1991), ontological continuity between bodies and places as revealed by death needs to be modulated by funerary rites. This control is not immune to forced displacements, enclosure, and the territorial depredations imposed by non-indigenous peoples. Here, I analyze the mythological codification of distance and war, the problem of death and mourning in disturbed spaces, and the effect of this disturbance on supernatural beings. The connection between these themes reveals indigenous inventiveness in the continuity of life, which is interpreted through the notion of "supernatural catastrophe".
Keywords:
Death; Land; Supernature; Marico Complex