ABSTRACT
In this paper, I take Lévi-Strauss’ characterization of “cold societies” as an inspiration from which to discuss the central Brazilian Karajá’s regime of historicity. Their mythology narrates a time of creation when diverse aspects of the world are created and humanity acquires the knowledge that now characterizes it as such. Action in the actual world, on its turn, is not creative: they make appear forms that were already there, for inscribed by the myth. Actual actions therefore make appear either a continuity in relation to “ancient times”, for they elicit the same relational nexus, or a marked rupture in relation to “the culture”. In the one case or the other, what is evinced is the “cold” potency of their regime of historicity, its contra-historical character. To grasp this regime though escaping from the idea of history put in terms of change and continuity, I argue that it is necessary to set the problem of history apart from the problem of time.
KEYWORDS
Inỹ-Karajá; mythology; time; history