The power of tradition in the voices and hands of Kariri-Xocó women: ceramics as indigenous epistemology

Abstract

This article presents an account of experiences with the Kariri-Xocó potters, indigenous ceramists from Porto Real do Colégio (AL), whose hands shape not only pots, but also memories, affections, and ways of life. The writing emerges from a course in the Graduate Program in Cultural Criticism at UNEB, Campus II, Alagoinhas, which encouraged a connection between personal experiences and ethnographic research. The text intertwines sensitive listening, observations, and reflections with ancestral knowledge transmitted orally and embodied in the practice of pottery, especially in the process of “clay cake,” a tradition that resists time and cultural homogenization. As an expression of resistance and continuity, the application of the Poteca methodology, an “oral library built with pots,” is proposed as an educational, playful, and political strategy capable of activating memories, valuing indigenous culture, and calling on new generations to reinvent tradition.