About culture and secret among the Xakriabá of São João das Missões/MG

Abstract

This article starts from a reflection on the projetos de cultura (culture projects) among Xakriabá of São João das Missões, Minas Gerais, deriving aspects of their lived world around the clashes between the idea of culture implicit in the projects and the one that emerges from within the group. I start form the descriptions Xakriabá as “acculturated Indians”, present in the first reports of indigenists and researchers about the Xakriabá, placing it in opposition to their notion índio misturado (mixed Indian), which emerges from the composition of contemporary Xakriabá. I also argue that the projects of culture organized around creative dimensions of the relationship of living Xakriabá with the antigos (ancient ones) and other indigenous peoples. Finally, I seek to discuss issues surrounding the segredo (secret), concept that defines the intensive relations between the Xakriabá and the encantados (enchanted) and other agents, and explicit why this constitutes a dimension kept apart from the culture projects.