Traditional toys and games of Tenetehar children

Kwarearer wazemaraz haw zemaramaraz taw kury

Abstract

In this community-based project, we present the results of three years of research on the practices of play and the construction of traditional toys of the Tenetehar people, also known as Guajajara (Tupi–Guarani family), in the Arariboia Indigenous Land, in the Brazilian state of Maranhão. Our goal is to record and highlight the importance of toys and ludic practices as part of the documentation of the traditional knowledge of the Tenetehar people, from childhood to adulthood. To this end, the research begins by conceptualizing “toys and games” among the Tenetehar people, based on their classification into "competitive games", "games with toys", and "free play". This study also seeks to document and revive the use of toys and traditional ludic practices of the Tenetehar people, since these practices have gradually been disappearing due to the influence and advancement of technology, such as industrialized toys and other leisure choices. As a result of our study, we hope that future generations of Tenetehar children will be able to learn how games were played in the past, using toys made by Tenetehar children from earlier times.