Três casas indígenas : pesquisa arquitetônica sobre a casa em três grupos : Tukâno, Tapirapé e Ramkokamekra / Getúlio Geraldo Rodrigues Alho.

Dissertação (mestre) - Universidade de São Paulo, 1985

This work is a research on the architecture of the house of three Brazilian Indian groups: Tukâno (visited by Wallace in 1851, by Koch-Grünberg in 1904-5, by Nimuendajá in 1927 and by others at different times), Tapirapé (visited by Herbert Baldus in 1935) and Ramkokamekra (visited by Nimuendajá in 1930). These groups was selected because of their geographic position which protects them from inter-tribal influence and because of the diversity in the shape of their houses. We tried, through the works of those authors, to understand the architecture of the three groups within a certain period of time. The material collected constitutes a synopsis with the following topics: the history of the group; the location of the village; the decription of a patttern house; the social and political organization; the causes of change of places and destruction of houses; and in the case of the Tukâno, the symbolism of the longhouses. This information was transposed into an architectural language. An analytical index referring to the sources of research was also organized with 74 notes of architectural interest, concerning the house and the village. Through the research on the text one can state the symbolic importance of the materials and of the shape of the house; the close relation ship of the distribution of the houses in the village and of the use of the inner space of the house as a result of the social and political organization of the group. Though we can find in these houses elements that show aculturation, the groups try to preserve their cultural traits in the shape, materials and spacial organization in the construction of their houses. It is certain that the construction materials and the shape of the houses are the first affected by cultural changes. However, spacial organization is preserved in some cases and the materials and shapes appear to have an importance equal to that of the spacial organization.