Cultural Practices and Language Games among the Xakriabá Peoples

Abstract

The present article analyzes cultural practices and language games among the indigenous Xakriabá peoples of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The study was conducted using participant observation and interviews, and focused on the Folia de Reis, the Samba Chula and the Loa. These were characterized as multimodal forms of language that, being distanced from practices of everyday orality, make up a symbolic mosaic. This is built through reflection on the language itself and on the use of construction strategies of the senses such as rhythm, melody and the use of rhymes that allow a process of redefining their identity as Xakriabá people, besides being a reference to teachers in the development of pedagogical practices in indigenous schools.