Paper short abstract:

Transformations in gender relations and forms of collective representation among the Korubo of the Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory (Amazonas, Brazil) are currently underway. I highlight the emergence of male leadership in contexts where forms of female authority formerly prevailed.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I discuss some of the transformations in gender relations and forms of political representation among the Amazonian Korubo, highlighting the emergence of male leadership where forms of female authority previously prevailed. I analyse these transformations in dialogue with the classic debates on “matriarchy.”

Today, approximately 130 Korubo individuals, distributed along the Ituí and Coari rivers, are considered by the Brazilian state to be “recently contactacted” while a smaller group remains in “isolation” within the Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory. During my initial encounters with the Korubo in late 2018, the term "cacique" was often used humorously when referring to non-Indigenous people who would buy items for Korubo persons, or take them on trips to the cities. In contrast, this word was used more seriously by non-Indigenous people in relation to the Korubo. Through field research conducted in Korubo villages along the Ituí River between 2019 and 2020, I observed that the term cacique was used by the Korubo in their demands for access to “white people’s things”: healthcare services, learning the Portuguese language, and acquiring numerical knowledge. However, in daily village life and in the absence of non-Indigenous people, other forms of authority took precedence, such as that of a category of older women: "matxo". Matxo denotes adult women who exhibit certain traits associated with Indigenous leadership, such as controlling bride service and managing relations with government agents.