Guest of the FUNDEP/IEAT Chairs program, professor Jean-Michel Beaudet, emeritus of the Paris Nanterre University, will deliver, on May 7th, at 2 pm, in the A104 Auditorium of the Center for Didactic Activities 2 at UFMG, the conference AWAY: Exploring the Interaction between Sounds, Anthropology and Movements.

Registration must be made through the Sistema Gestão de Eventos (GES). Registrants who sign the attendance list on the day of the event will receive a certificate.

A pioneer in Amerindian Ethnomusicology and Dance Ethnology, Jean-Michel Beaudet takes as his starting point the case of a rattle, an instrument so widespread among the indigenous cultures of Tropical South America. Away, among the Wayãpi, is a spinneret rattle, at the same time a dance adornment and a musical instrument, which carries with it a founding musical gesture, a badge of the status of the “Ceremonial Master”, which among the Wayãpi indigenous peoples is reserved for those capable of leading great dances, which mix sounds and movements, the yemi’aya. “It is a remembering, a repeated remembering that music, musical instruments and the cultural organization of sounds and movements come from another place. Today, finally, an affirmation of bodies on earth, the creation and recreation of a contemporary social space.” – highlights.

Starting with the description of a musical instrument very common in the Lowlands of South America, the conference will show how the intertwining of sound and movement can generate the meanings and efficiencies that are the basis of a civilization.

About the professor
Jean-Michel Beaudet is Professor Emeritus at Paris Nanterre University and member of the CNRS (Crem/Lesc). He has been researching the music and dances of Indigenous South America for 45 years, spending a long time in Amerindian villages in Brazil, Bolivia and French Guiana. He also worked for several years in Oceania. Jean-Michel Beaudet is the author of five books: Souffles d’Amazonie (1997), Nous danserons Jusqu’à l’aube (2010, with Jacky Pawe), Parikwene agigniman. A Presentation of the Music Parikwene-Palikur (2013, with Pival, B. Labonté, A. Norino), Jouer, danser, boire (2017), Yengakatu. Anthologie des chants wayãpi du haut Oyapock (2021, with Jacky Pawe, Luc Lassouka and Jérémie Mata). His recordings have been published in the CNRS-Musée de l’Homme collection, and he has also produced two documentary films, cementing his reputation as a leading expert in this field.

IEAT 25-year cycle
The conference is part of the celebration of IEAT’s 25th anniversary. By adopting the theme “Paving the Future”, the institute invites the academic community to reflect on the role of transdisciplinarity in building a fairer and more sustainable future. This invitation is not restricted only to members of the university, but extends to all those interested in exploring new approaches to contemporary challenges, whether scientific, social, economic or environmental.