OLAC Record
oai:www.mpi.nl:tla_1839_00_0000_0000_0009_5E27_E

Metadata
Title:Oral Traditions: Lazy Man
Contributor (researcher):Roland Hemmauer
Coverage:Suriname
Description:History of the Katwena and Tunayana: Direct contacts with the Katwena or Tunayana have only been recorded since the begin¬ning of the 20th century. The first short mention of Katwena (“Katawians”) is found in Farabee, William Curtis 1924: The Central Caribs. The name Tunayana had kept appear¬ing in the literature for several centuries (for details see Bos, Gerrit 1998: Some re¬coveries in Guiana Indian ethnohistory.), but has long been considered the name of a mythological people. As far as can be inferred from the literature and from personal life histories, the Katwena and Tunayana were inhabitants of the Trombetas (Ka:fu) river and its right-bank tributaries, esp. the Cachorro (Kašuru) and Turuna (Turuñe) rivers, in northern Brazil during the first half of the 20th century. Some authors also place the Tunayana on left-bank tributaries of the Trombetas, and the Katwena on the Mapuera (Irišamna; Waiwai: Kumwaw) river. It cannot be confirmed with absolute certainty whe¬ther the names Katwena and Tunayana refer to one and the same group or to two closely related groups, but most speakers consider Tunayana to be an alternative name for Ka¬twena. The Katwena were probably part of or closely related to the Parukoto. The names Kahyana and Minhoyana that were also mentioned to the researcher refer to subgroups of the Katwena or to closely related groups. Other Cariban groups with whom the Katwena had closer contact were Čikyana (Sikiâna, Sikïijana, Chikena), Šerew (Xerew, Shereo), Trio (Tiriyó, Tarëno), Kaxuyana, and the Arawakan Mawayana. In the 1960s, the Katwena and Tunayana were contacted by the Waiwai at the instigation of American evangelical missionaries, and resettled in the Trio village of Alalapadu in southern Suriname and in Waiwai villages in southern Guyana. In the late 1970s, the en¬tire population of Alalapadu moved downstream to the newly founded village of Kwama¬lasamutu on the Sipaliwini river. There have been several migrations of Katwena indi¬viduals or families between Guyana, Suriname, and new multi-ethnic Waiwai villages that had been founded along the Mapuera river in Brazil, esp. during the 1980s. Around 2002, part of the Katwena and Tunayana left Kwamalasamutu and re-established the abandoned village of A’yarama in neighbouring Brazil. Regular and long-term visits be¬tween the Katwena and Tunayana of Kwamalasamutu and A’yarama are still common. Location: Kwamalasamutu, Suriname The village of Kwamalasamutu is a multi-ethnic village situated on the Sipaliwini river, with a fluctuating population of 800-1000 inhabitants. The population is composed of a majority of Trio (Tarëno) and several minority groups. The Katwena (Tunayana) group has about 200 members. The recordings were made during fieldwork trips to Kwamalasamutu in January-March 2006 and February-April 2007. Recordings: All audio and video recordings were made by the researcher Roland Hem¬mauer. Audio files were recorded on a Hi-MD MiniDisc recorder, using either a headset or a table microphone. Video recordings were made on MiniDV tape. In some cases, the audio track from the video recording rather than from the minidisc had to be used due to failure of the audio equipment. Narratives and life histories were recorded. Texts were transcribed by the researcher with the help of the narrators themselves. Younger helpers, who had a passive understanding of Katwena and who were occasionally consulted during the first fieldwork period, turn¬ed out to only have an active command of Waiwai and to be unable to reproduce spoken Katwena. Translations were made into Dutch with the help of Tanini, a clinical assistant and former school teacher who speaks (Surinamese) Dutch reasonably fluently. In the course of translation, Tanini also helped to recheck the transcriptions made by the researcher. Some texts have also been translated into Trio.
Identifier (URI):https://hdl.handle.net/1839/00-0000-0000-0009-5E27-E
Is Part Of:Leiden Archives : South America : Katwena
Language:Undetermined; Katwena
Language (ISO639):und
Publisher:The Language Archive, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Subject:Undetermined language
Katwena
Subject (ISO639):und

OLAC Info

Archive:  The Language Archive
Description:  http://www.language-archives.org/archive/www.mpi.nl
GetRecord:  OAI-PMH request for OLAC format
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OAI Info

OaiIdentifier:  oai:www.mpi.nl:tla_1839_00_0000_0000_0009_5E27_E
DateStamp:  2021-12-13
GetRecord:  OAI-PMH request for simple DC format

Search Info

Citation: Roland Hemmauer (researcher). n.d. Leiden Archives : South America : Katwena.
Terms: iso639_und

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Up-to-date as of: Tue Dec 14 9:07:54 EST 2021