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Gender and Reproduction:Embodiment Among the
Kariri-Shoco
of Northeast Brazil
By
Sílvia Aguiar Carneiro MartinsA thesisPresented to the University of Manitoba in partialFulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in AnthropologyWinnipeg, Manitoba, Canada© S. Martins, 2003
0forDona MarietaandDona Maria Velha
iABSTRACTThis ethnographic study was conducted among the Kariri-Shoco, an indigenouspeople of Northeast Brazil, during nine months of field research in 2001. The researchfocuseD on the female body, particularly female reproductive processes and bodilyfluids as a fundamental way of approaching female embodiment. Kariri-Shoco
ethnophysiology and reproductive processes were investigated through examining
shamanic specialists‟ and women‟s conceptions, experiences, and perceptions of how
sexual difference and cure-healing practices are intertwined with Kariri-Shocoknowledge of the body. Kariri-
Shoco women‟s meanings
and experiences in relation toreproductive processes, sexual practices and desires were approached as fundamentalissues for the understanding of female embodiment.The investigation of therapeutic methods of cure-healing ritual performances hasshown how traditional indigenous medical practices remain contemporary Kariri-Shoco
shamanic specialists‟ medical knowledge.
Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialists explainthat the body opens during sexual intercourse and when women experience menstrualand post-delivery blood fluxes. Bodily fluids of male and female bodies from sexualintercourse, and menstrual and post-delivery bodily blood fluxes, provide avulnerability of the body in which shamanic practices become dangerous. I describethree different kinds of Kariri-Shoco cure-healing rituals which have the purpose of
closing the patient‟s body. The
reza
(prayer) ritual is one of the first steps that Kariri-Shoco people take towards cure-healing processes. Kariri-Shoco shamanic specialistsexperience embodiment during cure-
healing rituals, when the nature of the patient‟s
health problem is discovered, diagnosed, and treated. I have discussed and demonstratedthat Kariri-
Shoco knowledge of the body relates to the „openness‟ and „closedness‟ of
the body, which provides basis for sexual differences perceptions and experiencesintertwined with gender embodiment.Data analysed about gender and female embodiment reveal how Kariri-Shocoreproductive women resist male domination. The perspective that Kariri-Shocoshamanism is the fundamental locus for approaching and understanding symbolicaspects of Kariri-Shoco ethnophysiological reproductive concepts and the experienceswomen have through sexual difference and practices provided the possibility toapproach how female embodied subjectivity is produced and experienced within theKariri-Shoco cultural context.
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