Karajá

The Karajá live in the Araguaia River Valley and Bananal Island, home to Santa Isabel do Morro, the main village, established by groups that settled there long before 1500. The rest of the population is spread among more than twenty communities on the banks of the Araguaia River, in the states of Goiás, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, and Pará.

The permanence of the Karajá in this territory is the result of a long series of wars—firstly against the Xavante and other indigenous groups and later against non-indigenous explorers. Despite having been the target of countless colonizing and catechizing fronts, the Karajá demonstrate vigorous resistance in preserving their main social categories and traditions. Today, even with intense contact with Brazilian society, the villages record a constant increase in population, which currently totals 3,200 individuals.

The villages are located by preference close to the lakes and tributaries of the Araguaia and Javaés rivers. The houses are traditionally aligned parallel to the river, which is their axis of mythological and social reference.

The Karajá language family belongs to the Macro-Jê linguistic branch and is divided into three languages: Karajá, Javaé, and Xambioá, which reflects the original cultural division of this people. Each of these languages possesses a variant according to the sex of the speaker; despite the differences, everyone understands each other. Portuguese has become the dominant language in some villages.

Karajá material culture includes house building techniques, cotton weaving, feather decorations, and artifacts made from straw, wood, minerals, shell, gourds, tree bark, and pottery. The pottery figures made by the Karajá are the focus of intense interest from tourists who visit the villages, especially during the season when beaches are exposed along the Araguaia River, and have become another means of subsistence for the group, who traditionally lived on agriculture, hunting, and fishing. Karajá stools always share the same form: flat seat, double base and side projections ending in small faces, with the eyes highlighted by encrusted shells. They also have a carrying strap or rope. The surface is painted with the geometric designs that are also used in body painting, woven goods, and pottery. The designs generally represent parts of such animals as coatis, ants, snakes or knifefish.