Abstract
This article deals with some movements of territorial dispersion of the Tukano people, located in the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Land, based on the analysis of narratives that deal with the histories of the names of two of their (about 40) subgroups, the Duca porã and the Inapé porã. I argue that the trajectories of these collectives that established themselves in a microregion on the lower course of the Uaupés River are marked by transformations, alterations and compositions in the names by which they are and / or claim to be recognized. I intend to demonstrate that there is a dispute for prominence linked to the appropriation of names and that this process is linked to the process of colonization of the upper Rio Negro, one of the effects of which was the intensification of contact with the world of whites based, mainly, on relations of ongoing patronage throughout the second half of the 19th century. The more general effort is to describe a mechanism for attributing qualities and reputation that codifies intergroup disputes in which names occupy a prominent position. I will demonstrate that the name is fundamental in the processes of constitution of subgroups, as it is marked by disputes and conflicts – that is, a name always implies (un) recognition by others.
Keywords
Tukano; Uaupés; Sociality; Name; Dispute