Grow with the flow: Guarani Mbya ways of knowing

This ethnography describes the ways the Guarani Mbya, an indigenous people living in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, discover, develop and communicate knowledge. Considering that it is through constant movement and communication among different places and people (human, divine and non-human) that the Guarani Mbya develop knowledge and make it flow, this research was carried out by following different individuals and families as they moved along relations and places. Attention is drawn to common and ritual acts of communication and translation, in which translation is not only performed in the linguistic sense, but also encompasses experiences in which knowledge is translated into powerful actions. The lengths to which the Guarani Mbya seek to control the flow of knowledge are addressed pointing to the close tie between knowledge and sickness/misfortune, as well as the possibility that one may transform into the other and vice versa. In fact, the Mbya person, as all persons, grows continuously, and such growth entails managing the desire and risks of transformations triggered by his/her engagement in different contexts of interaction. The issues addressed in this dissertation dialogue with amerindian ethnology in general, and venture into a potentially promising dialogue with problems prevailing in the fields of education and philosophy of language research. (AU)