Reanthropophagic performances in Makunaima

Abstract

This article proposes the analysis of the work "Makunaimã: o mito através do tempo" (2019), presenting it as a significant indigenous literary production in Brazil from a reanthropophagic perspective (Baniwa, 2023). In order to do so, we address the work "Macunaíma" (1928) by Mário de Andrade, a Brazilian modernist novel that serves as an allegory for the formation of the Brazilian people and subsidizes the play "Makunaimã: o mito através do tempo." Taking into account the cosmologies involved in the composition of "Macunaíma" (1928) and the entity Makunaima in mythical narratives of different peoples, especially the Taurepang and Macuxi, we explore the debate about appropriations in "Macunaíma" (1928). In this way, we reflect on reanthropophagic operations in contemporary indigenous artistic and literary creations that encompass Makunaima as an entity and transformative force. Thus, we highlight the current indigenous production in Brazil as an expression that provides resistance, maintenance, and cosmological revitalization to the indigenous peoples.