Educar, viver, trabalhar: os significados do fazer os artesanatos entre os Kaingang da ëmã Por Fi Ga

Abstract

This paper seeks to identify the meanings of hand crafting among the kaingang of ëmã (fixed village) Por Fi Ga, located in the municipality of São Leopoldo - RS. The research starts with an ethnographic work that gathered participant observations, interviews, photographs, legal documents and an array of field notes. Accordingly, the research intends to interpret the meaning of hand crafting used by the kaingang, craft that, according to the Amerindians, demands qualities other than economic revenue, which are unfolded in living, education and work. Thus, the research shows the Amerindian perspective about the production of objects and the importance of its learning through the description and analysis of this process, which involves the gathering of materials, division of labors, etc. Among the Amerindian occupation in the city, this paper seeks to contextualize the Kaingang presence during the year 1994, the year of the fixed wãre (temporary camp) consolidation, until the fruition of the ëmã Por Fi Ga, in 2007. It's concluded, from the Amerindian point of view, that the hand crafting is a knowledge that goes throughout the kaingang life and, currently in the city, they revive, through the production of objects, the ways of the ancients and trigger, different from the fóg (non-indians) society, native perspectives about education and work.