“Weaving” the tupi: The study of kʷaẽ language and the persistence of pottery-making knowledge among the Akuntsu women, southwestern Amazon

Abstract

Grounded in the archaeology of persistence, decolonial perspectives, and technological approaches to ceramic manufacture, this study examines pottery-making as both a material expression of resilience and a site of ongoing identity negotiation. Integrating notions of intersubjectivity and intercorporeality, this paper explores the interrelation between technical processes, embodied knowledge, and territorial experiences. Focusing on the persistence of pottery-making knowledge among Akuntsu women (Tupi, Tupari), the study highlights its ties to cosmology. The Akuntsu, a recently-contacted Indigenous people, faced genocidal attacks as their ancestral territory in the Rondônia State, Brazil, was violated. Today, only three Akuntsu women—Pugapia, Aiga, and Babawro—remain as survivors of this group. To understand the chaîne opératoire of pottery production among Akuntsu women, this research promotes interdisciplinary dialogue, recognizing the fusion of knowledge with territorial, language, and material experiences from an ethnoarchaeological perspective. We explore the interplay between women featured in historical narratives, fermented beverage, saliva, tupi (clay), and pottery-making process as carriers of subjectivity and potentiality. The findings reveal that the chaîne opératoire of production of kʷaẽ (clay pots) endures as a cultural practice despite historical disruption from contact-related violence. The persistence of the three Akuntsu women in tupi shaping exemplifies the resilience of their traditions and illustrates how Indigenous material practices engage with broader debates on persistence, coloniality, and the interconnections between bodies, artifacts, and territories.