Abstract:
In 2019 I was submitted to my first and only menstrual seclusion among the recently-contacted Korubo of the Vale do Javari (Amazonas, Brazil). Menstruation and menstrual seclusion (tsat vule) require that one remain seated while blood descends. There was an incident during my seclusion involving one of the elders which led to the start of weeping-song rituals, after which one of my hosts entered a state of rage. This article takes my experience of menstrual seclusion as a starting point for analysing Korubo conceptions of the whites, adoption and menstruation. I argue that the menstruation of the anthropologist, treated as both a girl and an elder, can be interpreted as an anomalous menarche in which Amerindian conceptions of the whites are reconstructed through the performative aspects of kinship.
Keywords:
Adoption; Menstruation; Inter-ethnic contact; Korubo; Amazonia