The Kwazá are an indigenous ethnic group which live in the brazilian
state of Rondônia. According to van der Voort, there were 40
individuals belonging to this group as of 2008.
History
They
were cast out of their originary land by
fazendeiros when the BR-364
road was built in the 60s. The Kwazá tribe started losing their
cultural ties and common traits which united all the members of the
group. Nowadays there are 40 people who live in the southern region of
Rondônia.
They are also known, historically, with the name
''Koaiá''. Their traditional indigenous neighbors were
Aikanã,
Kanoê,
Tuparí, Mekens/Sakurabiat,
Salamãi and others. These
people maintained relations, but spoke languages which were different
from each other and not mutually intelligible. The majority of the
Kwazá people has mixed with the neighboring Aikanã e lives in the
"Terra Indigena" (a reservation) Tubarão-Latundê, together with
remaining members of the Aikanã and Latundê tribes. There is also a
family of mixed Kwazá and Aikanã ancestry in a small region near the
São Pedro river.
Name
These people call themselves
''Kwazá'' (the 'z' is pronounced like 'th'). In a few documents there
are mentions of names such as Koaiá, Koaya, Coaiá and Quaia, which are
alternate names used to indicate them. It's possible that the name
'Kwazá' and 'Koaiá' was given to them by neighboring tribes. For
example the Salamãi called them 'Koaiá', while the Aikanã called them
'Kwazá' (the 'th' sound doesn't exist in the Kwazá language), and the
Kanoê called them 'Tainakãw'.
The name 'Arara' was used in the past by functionaries of the
FUNAI, and today it is still used in scientific literature.
Language, location, and population
The
Kwazá language can be classified as 'isolate'. There is some
resemblance between this language and the languages spoken by the
Aikanã, Kanoê and the
tupian languages, Nambikwára, Txapakúra and
Macro-Gê, probably because of contacts and influence between the
various groups.
The majority of the Kwazá live in the Terra
Indigena Tubarão-Latundê, near the city of Chupinguaia in Rondônia. In
1998 there were 150 people in the reservation. Towards the end of the
20th century there were 25 people who spoke Kwazá, and some of them
also spoke Portuguese and Aikanã.
Some live in
Porto Velho,
Pimenta Bueno, and other cities, and don't speak their native
language anymore. The Kwazá language is now considered endangered and
on the verge of extinction. The same situation applies for the
indigenous languages near them, specifically Kanoê and Latundê.
Sources
*
CREVELS, Mily & Hein van der VOORT. The Guaporé-Mamoré region as a
linguistic area. Em: Pieter Muysken (org.) From linguistic areas to
areal linguistics, Studies in Language Companion Series 90,
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 151-179, 2008.
*
MALDI, Denise. O complexo cultural do Marico : sociedades indígenas dos
rios Branco, Colorado e Mequens, afluentes do Médio Guaporé. Boletim do
MPEG, Série Antropologia, Belém : MPEG, v. 7, n. 2, p. 209-69, dez.
1991.
* RODRIGUES, Aryon dall’Igna. Línguas brasileiras : para o conhecimento das línguas indígenas. São Paulo : Loyola, 1986.
*
RONDON, Cândido Mariano da Silva. Conferencias realizadas nos dias 5, 7
e 9 de outubro de 1915 pelo Coronel Rondon no teatro Phenix de Rio de
Janeiro. Comissão de Linhas Telegraphicas Estratégicas de Matto Grosso
ao Amazonas, Rio de Janeiro : Typ. Leuzinger, n. 42, p. 217-9, 1916.
*
RONDON, Cândido Mariano da Silva e João Barbosa de FARIA. Glossário
Geral das tribos silvícolas de Mato Grosso e outras da Amazônia e do
Norte do Brasil. Tomo I, Publicação no. 76 da Comissão Rondon, Anexo no
5 - Etnografia. Rio de Janeiro : Ministério da Agricultura, Conselho
Nacional de Proteção aos Índios, 1948.
External links
Kwaza on socioambiental.org (in portuguese)