ÍNDIOS GUAJAJARA: da aldeia para a cidade.

Abstract

In the study "Guajajara Indians: from the village to the city" it sought to identify the reasons that led them to migrate from their natural habitat to urban space in the city of Imperatriz/MA and the sociocultural impacts of this change to their lives. The specific objectives were to find the causes of migration of Guajajaras to town; characterize the cultural changes brought about by migration to the urban environment and its impact on their lives through the following questions: Why are the Guajajaras leaving their village? Which influences have they suffered? How do they identify themselves in this new urban space? What changes are generated in their culture, food, housing, health and on their cultural values from this new social, environmental and cultural coexistence? What are the perceptions and expectations that are noticeable in this new configuration of relationships in this new space, the city? This is a qualitative, exploratory and analytical study conducted through interviews using a saturation of information and records made in the field diary to report any perceptions about data collection. Ten intentionally selected Guajajara indians were included among which are found men and women over 18 living for more than ten years in the neighborhood Parque Amazonas who consented taking part in the study. For analysis, data were organized by identifying units of meaning, being grouped in the following categories: life in the village, life in the neighborhood, work, health, housing, nutrition, perception of being Indian and expectations about the life in the city. At the end, we can conclude that Guajajara suffer influences and changes in their lives when they migrate to the slums in the urban space; living with all forms of discrimination, prejudice and urban violence, and once living with these situations they become more marginalized and excluded in their subjectivity and their capacity for autonomy. It is also perceptible a loss of simple habits and the practices, customs, habits, values, traditional knowledge that have been gradually replaced collectively by customs, values and knowledge of the white men, in that the new ideal of Indian life turns out to become the way the white men live.