The Warao kinship between legal disputes and cosmological notions

Authors

  • Carlos Alberto Marinho Cirino Universidade Federal de Roraima / Professor Titular
  • Carmen Lúcia Silva Lima Universidade Federal do Piauí / Professora Titular
  • Raoni Borges Barbosa Universidade Federal do Piauí

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22478/ufpb.2447-9837.2025.n20.71285

Abstract

The article analyzed the Warao kinship relations, who are indigenous migrant refugees from Venezuela, demonstrating that they are configured differently from what is determined by the Brazilian legal system. This quarrel over cosmological and juridical notions of kinship and its legal consequences in terms of rights and obligations was relevant because it was a case in which a Warao indigenous person in a situation of incarceration, as well as his relatives, demanded the right to visit the imprisoned relative, having obtained an official response from the State that only first- and second-degree relatives could access this right. The article aimed to address this misconception in relation to the cosmological notions of Warao culture and ethnicity and the Brazilian State’s understanding of kinship.

KEYWORDS: Warao Kinship. Warao Cosmology. Brazilian Law. Misconceptions.

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Author Biographies

Carlos Alberto Marinho Cirino, Universidade Federal de Roraima / Professor Titular

Professor titular do Instituto de Antropologia da Universidade Federal de Roraima - UFRR. Professor
permanente do Programa de Pós-graduação em Antropologia Social - PPGANTS da UFRR.

Carmen Lúcia Silva Lima, Universidade Federal do Piauí / Professora Titular

Professora associada do Departamento de Ciências Sociais da Universidade Federal do Piauí - UFPI.
Professora do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia da UFPI.

Raoni Borges Barbosa, Universidade Federal do Piauí

Professor Visitante do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ambiente, Tecnologia e Sociedade - PPGATS
da Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido - UFERSA.

Extended Warao family, at the Transit Home, Teresina-PI. Source - Carmen Lúcia Silva Lima, 2023.

Published

2026-03-25

How to Cite

Marinho Cirino, C. A., Silva Lima, C. L., & Borges Barbosa, R. (2026). The Warao kinship between legal disputes and cosmological notions. Altera Journal of Anthropology, (20), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.22478/ufpb.2447-9837.2025.n20.71285