Creating from natural materials: Huni Kuin material culture

Julia Teles Da Silva,Jackeline Lima Farbiarz

doi:10.4013/sdrj.2017.101.06

Julia Teles Da Silva, Jackeline Lima Farbiarz

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4013/sdrj.2017.101.06

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Abstract

This article is part of a research about cooperative design with sustainable materials. The research on the indigenous design is based on a visit to a village of the huni kuin tribe in the Amazon and analyzes it in terms of Design methods and processes, materials and cooperation. The village is in an isolated place, difficult to reach, and many of their traditional practices have been preserved. What can these ancient practices teach us? What principles are present in their production that are similar to academic ideas about sustainable design? And what challenges do they face nowadays in their material production, with the progressive arrival of industrial goods? The article analyses the processes of pottery, house building and basketry, all traditionally done collectively using only materials and tools from the local forest. Keywords: indigenous, material culture, natural materials, handicraft, Brazilian Amazon, conviviality, permaculture, pottery, sustainable design, ethnic design, bioarchitecture, basketry.

Highlights

This paper presents Julia Silva’s research at the Huni Kuin village, that took place during her PhD research, that was advised by Jackeline Farbiarz
The village is located in the Amazon, where she stayed for four weeks. She tried to learn about the indiginous material culture and to understand how it could be related to concepts that the authors had been working with
Material culture is a term originally from archaeology that refers to the part of the physical world that is appropriated by culture (Gaspar, 2000) – nature that is transformed into human artifacts

Summary

Introduction

This paper presents Julia Silva’s research at the Huni Kuin village, that took place during her PhD research, that was advised by Jackeline Farbiarz. The village is located in the Amazon, where she stayed for four weeks. On this visit, she tried to learn about the indiginous material culture and to understand how it could be related to concepts that the authors had been working with. The PhD research was about sustainability and community solutions in material culture. Material culture is a term originally from archaeology that refers to the part of the physical world that is appropriated by culture (Gaspar, 2000) – nature that is transformed into human artifacts. We experience a physical world filtered by the design process, a completely transformed nature, according to Petroski (Petroski, 2007).

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