The micropolitical dimension of emotions and the indigenous social (re)organization Pitaguary (CE)

Abstract

This article aims to analyze, from ethnographic research and a reflexive posture, the construction of a cultural language of emotions and moralities among Pitaguary natives in a context of internal factional disputes. I try to relate the emotions in their different languages, such as performance, discursive and political – giving special attention to the latter. Emotions and politics would thus be closely related, automating leadership, practices, performances, and agencies. From a procedural anthropological perspective, I emphasize how Pitaguary internal social dynamics, such as the establishment of two opposing factional groups and the demise of the then cacique of the people, contributed to the dimension of emotions functioning as a channel for political engagement. Emotions, therefore, have emerged as important empirical data for analyzing conflicts, alliances and networks among leaders. In this way, we perceive how emotions have the capacity to update, in the subjective experience of individuals, macro-level aspects of social organization, what Coelho (2010) calls “micropolitics”. Finally, I argue that the constitution over the years of “emotional communities” (JIMENO, 2010) is a way for the Pitaguary, as well as the indigenous movement, to oppose internal factionalism.