Relationship, tribal war and violence: the indigenous youth’s “fights” in a context in transformation

Abstract

Iauaretê is a populous and multi-ethnic indigenous place located at the Upper course of the Rio Negro in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. This region is undergoing an important urbanization process and their leaderships have been expressing concerns regarding violence, particularly fights among the youth, mainly in situations that involve the use of alcoholic beverages. The objective of this study was to analyze this phenomenon, using a theoretical framework capable of comprising general indigenous characteristics, as well as those specific for populations living near the Rio Negro. Through the ethnographic research, the fights among the youth were shown to be part of a complex phenomenon involving synergic and dialectic interactions that affect the changes in how the territory is being occupied (increased population, breaks of the rule of patrilocal residence, among others); the frailty of the consanguinity mechanisms of alterity; and the need to define the differences in an environment in which native conceptions and traditional practices are being updated into a context of important transformations in the indigenous lifestyle.