The kokamas of Brasileirinho, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Manaus, saw learning the indigenous language as a way of uniting the community. Present along the entire Solimões River, these indigenous people have suffered historical processes of expulsion and dispersion. They became migrants and sought the fringes of cities as a means of survival.
Since the beginning of the World Cup, the community that is always on the verge of dispersion now has one more element of cohesion, the games of the Brazilian team.
In the cultural center of the community, called uka nuan (big house), kokama families gather to cheer for Brazil. It was like this in the rout over South Korea this Monday (5).
“The games in Brazil have become a movement to strengthen the community”, sums up Gean Martinho dos Santos, 33, one of the kokama teachers in the community. The other teacher is his sister, Jardeline dos Santos, 36.
“When there’s a game in Brazil, it’s very important. It’s time to unite, to strengthen our base”, says Gean.
Indigenous people follow the match in a more discreet and silent way, compared to other fans. The calm is interrupted by the goals.
The celebration of each of the four goals of the Brazilian team is done with screams, maracas and rain sticks —a long cylindrical instrument that works like a rattle.
Comunidade Nova Esperança Kokama has been in existence since 2005. It is located in the Brasileirinho region, an hour from downtown Manaus — or more, on days with nervous traffic such as the national team’s matches.
When it emerged, the community had 45 families. Differences and the migrant spirit led to a relative emptying of the place, with the emergence of two other Kokama communities. Today, 30 families live there.
The leaders soon understood that it was necessary to rescue the mother tongue, as a way of guaranteeing a minimum unity of the community.
“Speaking kokama is a necessity for everyone here. We live in a village”, says Gean.
His mother, Maria do Perpétuo Socorro, 56, is the chief of Nova Esperança. The story of her and her ancestors is the story of the place itself.
Maria’s parents are from São Paulo de Olivença, in Alto Solimões, a region closer to Brazil’s triple border with Peru and Colombia. They began to migrate, first to Tefé, then in the middle Solimões, where Maria was born.
36 years ago, when Jardeline, the teacher, was a baby, she moved to Manaus. She lived in a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city and never adapted – the capital of Amazonas is a huge concrete patch in the forest, sparsely wooded, with all the problems of a large and swollen Brazilian city.
A kokama owner of a farm in Brasileirinho donated the land to families of the same ethnic group who lived in the capital. The site is a green breath in the city. This is how the Nova Esperança Kokama Community was born.
The community has a green area, a flour mill and an attempt to rescue Kokama traditions, especially the language. But space is lacking. And there is no river, the hallmark of traditional communities.
“The life of the Kokama is on the riverbank. And here there is no river or creek. The water comes from a well”, says Maria. “But, in the city, I didn’t adapt well. It’s a lot of traffic, a lot of noise.”
Rescue for the language mobilizes 50 students, adults and children, from Monday to Friday. The work of the two teachers is paid by the municipality.
Manaus has ten kokama communities. Ethnicity is present in everyday life and in the formation of the city.
The communities hold periodic meetings in the city, and it is from these meetings that booklets and material for language teaching emerge.
Football emerged as another aggregating element. The meetings at the cultural center –one of four of the ethnic group in the city– are treated like a party in the community calendar.
To broadcast the matches, a TV owned by one of the residents is taken to the collective space. Part of the families gather to watch the games, but it is still a minority.
Some natives prefer to watch the game at home, with tambaqui fish on the grill. Others don’t get home from work in time for the broadcast.
In the 2018 World Cup, the TV used was simpler, but there were more families together. The kokamas continue to spread, and the language and football are attempts to stop this movement.
The games are also used in the Christmas fundraising campaign for children in the community, with videos and photos being sent via WhatsApp and on social networks.
Maria’s family has been staying in the community. Jardeline and Gean have 12 more siblings. Of the 14, 12 are still on Nova Esperança Kokama. Most residents work as self-employed vendors on the streets of Manaus.
“I was a Kokama student, my brother too. My mother told me that there was a ban on speaking the language. Now we teach it”, says Jardeline.
Gean says he felt good when he learned the language. “There is that doubt, that test with us: ‘are you indigenous? So say something’. That motivated me to learn kokama.”
Supporting Brazil in the World Cup started to have a similar function, of unity and belonging. “It’s a cultural moment. We watch the game together, we put the strength for the selection to win, we pass energy”, says Gean.
The kokamas already have a certain meeting at the cultural center of the community next Friday (9), when Brazil faces Croatia in the quarterfinals. And, if all goes well, the meetings continue until the final.
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