The Paiter-Suruí and the social appropriation of technology, information and communication: from oral memory to digital memory

Abstract

Introduction: this work is based on a historical-sociological approach, with the intention of using the conceptual dialogue of the social sciences with the informational concepts in the reorganization of the culture of the Paiter-Suruí ethnic group in its relation with contemporary culture and the digital world. Far beyond cultural exchanges and impositions, the imperative of acquisition through the social appropriation of technologies, communication and information (ICT) induced the Paiter-Suruí to a cultural adaptation and resistance to the network society. Objective: the paper proposes to present the process of transition from oral memory to digital memory. Methodology: This is a case study with documentary survey of the period of 2006: Paiterey Garah Indigenous Land Management Plan, Ethnozoneament and Oral Transcriptions to the present day of the Paiter-Suruí partnership with Google Inc., bibliographical review of information science, dialoguing with the social sciences. Results: the research reveals the process of cultural transition through social appropriation, reflecting the consequences, pros, cons and perspectives. Conclusions: social appropriation did not replace Paiter-Suruí´s oral tradition. Their expressions extended and the digital media became one of their presentations. The preservation of culture continues to be oral, but virtual sharing with other cultures announces them to the world. Their frontiers expanded beyond the real territory, their virtual expansion allowed them visibility and that, now, their voice echoes.