Paper short abstract:

By questioning the romantic influence on the Koch-Grunberg's thought referred to livestock farming in the Rio Branco valley, this paper discusses the cattle domestication model adopted by the Macushi, a people of Carib linguistic affiliation, as a management resource for their traditional territory.

Paper long abstract:

This paper deals with the institution of livestock practices among the Macushi, a people of Carib linguistic affiliation in the Guianas region, whose secular experience with cattle gave rise to the establishment of diversified relationships with cattle. With the use of oral narratives and the primorous ethnographic record made by Theodor Koch-Grünberg during the expedition from Roraima to the Orinoco in the years 1911-1913, it aims to debate the recurrent practices adopted by the indigenous population in dealing with cattle herds as a priority resource for management of their traditional territory.

By focusing on the recurrence of the structural factors of the extensive livestock model, this paper aims to problematize how the humanist and liberal critique woven in ethnographic records in the early twentieth century comes to focus and anticipate the unavoidable impacts of climate change and the massive extinction of living species in the 21st century.