Abstract

VIEGAS, Susana de Matos. Person and individuation: the power of names among the Tupinamba of Olivença (south of Bahia, Brazil). Etnográfica [online]. 2008, vol.12, n.1, pp.71-94. ISSN 0873-6561.

Departing from an analysis of social changes and the use of different name systems in civil records among the Tupinamba of Olivença (south of Bahia), this article develops a debate on the notion of the person, names and individuation. The relevance of “serial names” in Brazil and its use by the Tupinamba of Olivença point to different ways of constituting the person. The Tupinamba of Olivença appropriate these names both as a way of constituting family in the face of the State and of constructing themselves as persons in the rural environment of the roça in which they live their everyday life.

Keywords : Person; names; Tupi; citizenship; kinship; amerindian history.

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