First-Time Televiewing in Amazonia: Television Acculturation in Gurupa, Brazil

Abstract

In June of 1982 the first three television sets were turned on and began to receive discernable images in the remote Amazonian town of Gurupa, Brazil.(2) The event marked the first time in the community's 370-year history that direct visual and audio contact had been established with mainstream Brazilian culture. With the addition of a satellite dish and several hundred new sets over the next few years, a series of changes emerged that significantly altered local patterns of collective behavior and world view perceptions. Gurupa was forever changed. The introduction of television in Gurupa presents a unique opportunity to research the medium's influence on people. While many researchers have commented on the powerful force television exerts upon human cognition and social behavior, few have had the opportunity to observe the phasing-in of the medium, while even fewer have looked at its effect in non-Western and particularly rural settings (Kottak 1990:11; Carey 1989).(3) These lacunae in television research suggest several important questions. What kinds of social and cultural patterns arise as television is incorporated into particular non-Western rural settings? How do the patterns differ from patterns in Western settings? Also, what role does the local culture play in shaping audience interpretation of program content? The research presented here addresses these concerns. It investigates changes occurring in Gurupa during the first eight years of televiewing. It focuses upon two broad areas of change: social interaction patterns (displacement effect); and world view perceptions (content effect) (see Williams 1986:9-10). The first consists of behavioral changes that occur as people alter their lifestyles to accommodate televiewing as well as duplicate televiewing habits in other areas of their lives (Kottak 1990:9). Examples include changes in rules for public access to television, visitation patterns, viewing etiquette, and timing of social activities. The second consists of changes in shared knowledge, attitudes, expectations, and beliefs. These include knowledge of the world, perceptions of quality of life, and views on economics, politics, religion, and so forth.(4) Data on these realms of change were collected during thirteen months of fieldwork between 1983 and 1991. Standard methods of participant observation, informal interviewing, and collection of life histories were utilized. An interview schedule was also administered between 1985 and 1986 to a 9 per cent random sample of households in the town of Gurupa (N=62) as well a 33 per cent random sample in four small hamlets in the rural interior (N=59). A second interview schedule was administered to individuals within the household random sample (95 in the urban sample, 32 in the rural sample). The total number of interviews was 248. In addition, the research was integrated into a larger study, directed by Conrad Kottak, which analyzed television's impact in six communities in Brazil. The goal of the research was to understand the role of television in shaping sociocultural change and in forming national cultural identity, particularly in rural areas. Brazil was chosen for study in part since it has the world's fifth largest television audience size with some 75 per cent of households possessing sets (Miranda and Pereira 1983:48). At the same time the country's high level of illiteracy, underdevelopment, and the relative isolation of rural areas made it likely that rapid and profound changes would occur from television. Researchers in each of the six communities administered interview schedules that covered a wide array of information, including commonly asked questions used in American television research. The results of the project are reported in Kottak (1990). TELEVISION RESEARCH AND ANTHROPOLOGY Although anthropological research on television is still in its infancy,(5) the powerful force television exerts upon human cognition and behavior demands increasing attention be paid to the medium. …