acase@tulane.edu / This dissertation combines ethnohistory and ethnography to produce a unified description of Makushi ecology, economy, socio-politics, and cosmology in the past and present. It is based upon ethnographic data obtained through fieldwork with the Makushi in Surama Village, Guyana, and upon ethnohistorical data obtained through archival research. This dissertation seeks to examine the past and present of the Makushi in order to elucidate a cultural logic that continues and perdures in their society and in their relations with the outside world. As described in this dissertation, Makushi cultural logic posits an inward and directed movement of outside elements (people, material goods, and knowledge) into Makushi society and a subsequent incorporation of these elements for individual and collective purposes of renewal and transformation. This cultural logic posits a basic distinction between inside and outside and locates mediating entities at the boundaries between these domains. A focus on Amazonian encounters with alterity recurs throughout Amazonian ethnology. Anthropologists have highlighted the ways in which Amazonian societies encounter and incorporate outside elements, whether affines, war captives, material goods, or names and other symbolic items, for various purposes related to the reproduction of internal social relations, the marking of self-identity through contrastive alterity, and the transformation of self towards alterity. Using the theoretical frameworks of historical ecology and Amerindian perspectivism, this dissertation contributes to the literature by showing how the Makushi have sought outsiders in the past (missionaries) and present (tourists and consultants) and have incorporated their material goods and knowledge. In the nineteenth century, this is seen in the rise of syncretic religions with goals of material abundance and self-transformation. In the present, it is seen in Makushi attempts at transformation through interactions with tourists and consultants. In both cases, one finds a cultural logic that links Makushi relations with outsiders to ecological, economic, socio-political, and cosmological relations. This dissertation argues that such relations between inside and outside domains lie at the perduring heart of Makushi identity. / 1 / James Andrew Whitaker

This ethnographic account focuses on the conceptions and practices of movement, as narrated by the Makushi people who live along the triple frontier of southern Guyana. The journeys - individual experiences, in particular of women – depict visits to other Makushi communities, to their neighbours and cities in Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela. The travelogues disclose Makushi premises on knowledge and its acquisition: gender, age, temporality and alterity. Exploring these concepts in practice, the ethnography points out the value the Makushi attribute to their encounters with others, situations in which risk and unpredictability are creatively incorporated as part of their sociality.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O fenômeno do contato linguístico entre o Português e as línguas indígenas resulta em variedades e, de modo particular, na denominada variação Português-Macuxi que foi tratada como variedade do Português Brasileiro nesta dissertação. O objetivo desta pesquisa se concentrou no estudo do português usado, na modalidade escrita, por alunos do Centro Indígena de Formação e Cultura Raposa Serra do Sol, na comunidade Barro Surumu, estado de Roraima. Em visitas à comunidade e ouvindo expressões do tipo o cadeira, o mesa, meu horta, alguns pessoas, propôs-se como problema de pesquisa verificar se essas variações ocorriam na escrita, como uma variação do PB. A vertente teórica denominada Sociolinguística embasou este trabalho, a partir das variáveis externas e internas. O estudo foi realizado através de pesquisa bibliográfica, qualiquantitativa e pesquisa de campo. Na pesquisa de campo, foi aplicado um questionário contendo 23 questões, junto a 24 informantes, que resultou na definição de um perfil sociolinguístico, com predomínio de bilinguismo L1 (Português) e L2 (Macuxi). Foram também analisadas 23 narrativas escritas por esses alunos, cujos resultados apontaram para variações do tipo sintática, morfológica e fonética. Os resultados reconheceram variáveis linguísticas existentes na escrita Português-Macuxi, muitas delas, similares ao Português Rural, por exemplo, a concordância de gênero, pois, as realizações sugerem que o falante transfere traços de sua língua Macuxi para o Português, conforme se percebe em [...] ele iria comer uma gostosa damorida de peixe aima preparado com pimenta kanaimé, cariru, cozida por sua esposa para saborear [...]; os informantes apresentam a 1 pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo sair ao invés de flexionar a 3 pessoa do pretérito perfeito do indicativo, de acordo com Certa vez saio para caçar peixe na margem do rio branco, onde perseguio vários tipo de peixes, vendo qual era o melhor e o mais grande do cardume; e também nos vocábulos PESCADO, pesca e pega , pois, mediante a ausência da marca /r/, quer em nome quer em verbos,o acento silábico muda, e se transfere para a sílaba anterior. O processo de mudança do peso silábico implica alternância de classes, resultando em variações a partir da não marcação da variante /r/ nestes vocábulos. O estudo finalizou com indicações de um Português-Macuxi como uma variante do Português-Brasileiro. / The language contact phenomenon between the Portuguese and indigenous languages results in varieties and, in particular the so-called Makushi Portuguese variation that was treated as a variety of Brazilian Portuguese, this work. The objective of this focused on the study of Portuguese used, in the written form, by students of the Indian Center of Training and Culture Raposa Serra do Sol in Barro community - Surumu, Roraima state. In visits to the community and listening to expressions like: the chair, the table, my garden, some people. It was proposed as a problem of the research to verify that these variations occurred in writing, as a variation of PB. The theoretical part called Sociolinguistics based this work, from the main external and internal.The study was conducted through literature, qualitative-quantitative and field research. In the field research, a questionnaire was applied containing 23 questions with 24 informants, which resulted in the definition of a sociolinguistic profile with predominance of bilingualism L1 (Portuguese) and L2 (Makushi). Were also analyzed 23 stories written by these students, whose results showed of syntactic type, morphological and phonetic. The results recognized linguistic variables in written Portuguese-Makushi, similar to many Rural Portuguese, far example, the correlation of gender, for accomplishments suggest that the speacker transfers traces of their Makushi language to Portuguese, as can be seen in [] ele iria comer uma gostosa damorida de peixe aima preparado com pimenta kanaimé, cariru, cozida por sua esposa para saborear []; the use of the verb sair on that informants may be the 1st person singular presente indicative rathe than flex the 3rd person perfect indicative tense, as the cut [] Certa vez saio para caçar peixe na margem do rio branco, onde perseguio vários tipo de peixes, vendo qual era o melhor e o mais grande do cardume; and also in words pescado, pesca e pega, therefore ,by the absence of the Mark /r/, either in name or in the verbs, the syllabic stress changes and shifts the previous syllabic. The syllabic weight change process involves switching classes, resulting in variations from the non marking the variant /r/ in these words. The study ended with indications of a Portuguese-Makushi as a variant of Portuguese-Brazilian.

This doctoral research studied the North Rupununi Wildlife Clubs (NRWC), an Environmental Education (EE) Program for Makushi Amerindian youth in Guyana. The Club format for EE has become popular, and previous research on EE Club programs provide modest support for the hypothesis that EE Club membership increases pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour in children and youth. There is also increasing interest in the role EE Clubs can play in nurturing Positive Youth Development (PYD). This multi-site case study describes EE Clubs in three villages in the North Rupununi of Guyana. Data was collected from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with stakeholders (such as former Club members, volunteers with the Clubs, Elders, and village leaders). The researcher also kept a reflective journal. Findings suggest community members valued the positive impact they perceived participation in NRWC to have on youth and upon their community. Participants offered recommendations on how to improve the program. One of the original findings is that the Clubs may be a way to help reconnect indigenous youth with their elders and restore the transmission of Indigenous Knowledge. These findings contribute to our understanding of EE Clubs and their impact on pro-environmental behaviour, PYD, and communities. This may be relevant to other indigenous communities in isolated rural areas with EE Clubs, and to the field of EE in general.