TURNING INMÕXÃ: AN INTEGRATED ANALYSIS OF MAXAKALI COSMOLOGY AND KINSHIP FROM THE PROCESSES OF BODY TRANSFORMATION

Abstract

Cosmology and kinship are  two  important felds of  anthropology,  which  have  commonly  been  treated  as  separate  domains. The objective of  this ethnographic essay is the realization of  an integrated  analysis  of   the  cosmology  and  kinship  of   the Maxakali  Indians,  through  the description of  processes of  corporal transformation. All the inhabitants of  the Maxakali cosmos have a  soul. Thus,  the difference between  the  species and  the ethnic groups  is constructed  in the body. The process of  construction of   the  human  condition  and  the  kinship  is  one  and  the  same, evolving through the co-inhabitation, the corporal sameness, the observation of  prescriptions  related  to  the body,  and  the  ritual relation with  the  yãmiy,  the  spirits. The non-observation of   the prescriptions related to the body, the consumption of  sugarcane rum or of  the bamboo worm and the practice of  incest are acts that cause the corporal  transformations,  implying  in the  loss of  the human condition, when a Maxakali  loses  the knowledge of  his or her kin and starts to act as inmõxã, the bad spirit.Key words: Maxakali, cosmology, kinship.