**3. Sociodemographic contexts**

#### **3.1. Araraiana community**

The first phase of research was performed in the Araraiana community that belongs to the county of Ponta de Pedras, Marajó Island, PA. The county area is approximately 3,365.30 km², with a population of 20,067 inhabitants. Araraiana is a community geographically isolated from urban centers, with an absence of medical and social assistance see [19].

The Araraiana community, during data collection, consisted of 22 families with 125 inhabitants who lived in stilt houses on the margins of the river. Overall, the houses had three rooms (e.g., living room, bedroom, and kitchen) and were made of wood and straw collected from the forest adjacent to the houses. The houses were distributed along the river with an approximate minimum distance of 300 m from each other. The houses had no furniture, such as sofas, chairs, wardrobes, or beds. In several houses, it was common to sit and have guests sit on the floor made of wood boards or on benches made of wood close to the walls, typically in the living room and kitchen. The few appliances were wood-burning stoves, radios, and televisions. Because of the absence of local electricity, televisions and radios functioned with batteries for limited periods of time, mainly at night. The houses were essentially occupied by the family, in which the number varied as a function of family type (i.e., nuclear families with one to six residents or extended families with six to 10 residents), whereas multigenerational families were characterized by a higher density (i.e., eight to 12 residents).

The principal occupation of the men was extraction activities, followed by fishing. Women were housewives or artisans. The river and forest provided food and products for local extraction activities, such as fish, shrimp, game animals, and açaí.

With regard to the availability of health services, no assistance was provided by the state, in addition to the lack of treated water, trash and sewer services, and complex health problems of the population (e.g., stomach and intestinal problems and malnutrition). Similar to the lack of health services, no investments were made in education. The only school in the community was located in the house of a local resident who provided only first-year elementary school education.

### **3.2. Piriquitaquara community**

repetitive periods and guided by the dynamics of nature, distinct senses and meanings are generated in these populations, in which their routine tasks and social relationships develop

Based on interest in recognizing parenthood within the context such different development, the objective of the present study was to understand parental practices based on the descrip‐ tions of the routines of two riverine families and provide evidence of the relationships between cultural activities and the Amazonian context. We highlight the social activities during weekdays and weekends, with parenthood considered based on the daily activities that reflect

This study comprised two periods of data collection, between 2006 and 2010, when visits and interviews were performed in two Amazonia riverine communities that have different geographies and social dynamics. The Araraiana community is located in Ponta de Pedras city in the Marajó archipelago, and the Piriquitaquara community is on Combu Island and belongs to the insular area of Belém. The data form the database of the Laboratory of Ecology of Human Development, which has been conducting scientific studies on the development of Amazonia

The first phase of research was performed in the Araraiana community that belongs to the county of Ponta de Pedras, Marajó Island, PA. The county area is approximately 3,365.30 km², with a population of 20,067 inhabitants. Araraiana is a community geographically isolated

The Araraiana community, during data collection, consisted of 22 families with 125 inhabitants who lived in stilt houses on the margins of the river. Overall, the houses had three rooms (e.g., living room, bedroom, and kitchen) and were made of wood and straw collected from the forest adjacent to the houses. The houses were distributed along the river with an approximate minimum distance of 300 m from each other. The houses had no furniture, such as sofas, chairs, wardrobes, or beds. In several houses, it was common to sit and have guests sit on the floor made of wood boards or on benches made of wood close to the walls, typically in the living room and kitchen. The few appliances were wood-burning stoves, radios, and televisions. Because of the absence of local electricity, televisions and radios functioned with batteries for limited periods of time, mainly at night. The houses were essentially occupied by the family, in which the number varied as a function of family type (i.e., nuclear families with one to six residents or extended families with six to 10 residents), whereas multigenerational families

from urban centers, with an absence of medical and social assistance see [19].

were characterized by a higher density (i.e., eight to 12 residents).

more slowly [18].

100 Parenting in South American and African Contexts

these families' beliefs.

**2. Method**

riverine families.

**3. Sociodemographic contexts**

**3.1. Araraiana community**

This community belongs to Combu Island, Belém county, Pará state. It has an approximate territorial size of 15 km² and is approximately 1.5 km from the capital Belém via waterway. It is characterized by floodplain forest with diversified flower composition in addition to enormous tourist and commercial attractions.

Considered the fourth largest island of Belém county, Combu Island is located at the margins of Guamá River. In this area, approximately 375 families or 1,700 residents live in and are clustered in four communities: Igarapé of the Combu, Igarapé of the Piriquitaquara, "Furo da Paciência," and the margin of Guamá River. The houses are predominantly made of wood and distributed along the margins of the waterways. The social and production structure is organized as a function of local natural resources, such as açaí and cacau harvesting, palm heart extraction, shrimping, fishing, and raising chickens, ducks, and pigs, which constituted the principal local activities.

Access to Combu Island is via waterway on boats that leave daily from different Belém harbors. Such waterways play a strategic role in the transportation of goods and people. Work is performed with activities in the riverine area. Other services, including the marketing of plant and gathering products, health services, schools, shops, and amenities, occur in the urban context.

The houses were made of wood and covered with clay tiles or asbestos. They were built on stilts and located approximately 30 m from each other. Electricity was not available during data collection, but it became available in July 2011. Treated water was not yet available. Drinking water was obtained from a public tap in Belém and carried in bulk or plastic bottles to the community.

With regard to infrastructure, the community had a health center that was having difficulty with functioning because it was closed for some months due to a lack of physicians, equipment, and medicine. Aside from this health center, a municipal school was located in the igarapé itself, characterized by a typical Amazonia riverine style and made of wood on stilts. The school had two classrooms, a courtyard, a pantry, restrooms, a coordination room, and an external area available for recreation when the river level was low. In this community, almost all of the residents received benefits from the federal program "Bolsa Família" (family grant), a program that directly provides income to families depending on health conditions and school attend‐ ance.

The inventories were applied with the parents on previously scheduled days. During the interviews, we asked questions, and the participants were free to respond. The responses were recorded and transcribed. The tabulation of responses into categories of activities was based on discussions and agreement of two of the three researchers who collected the data. In case

Parenting in Amazonian Riverside Context http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/57056 103

We divided the activities into eight categorical clusters: Economic Subsistence (ES; which refers to all activities that are aimed at obtaining financial resources), Food subsistence (FS; which includes all activities involved in food acquisition and preparation), Domestic tasks (DT; which refers to tasks performed in the house, excluding the kitchen; e.g., sweeping, dish washing, gathering firewood, and fixing the house), Physical care (PC; which refers to tasks related to other people, typically the children; e.g., feeding, bathing, and putting them to sleep), Leisure (L; which refers to activities performed in their free time, including activities for having fun, entertainment, or distraction; e.g., social interaction/talking, watching television, and playing soccer), Play (which represents playful activities with children), and Study (which comprises

To facilitate data visualization, we made Diagrams of Family Activities (DFAs) that consisted of forms that allowed descriptions of intrafamilial subsystems in activity performance. The DFAs were composed of a genealogy tree of the groups who shared a house, and the activity subsystems in which the family members were inserted were delineated with lines of different thicknesses, which allowed distinguishing activity categories. Such categories were identified by complementary descriptions around the figure. The DFA allowed knowledge of the tasks and who performed them, the time of the meeting, whether there was close interaction or isolation, and useful reflections on the nature and characteristics of family gatherings [20].

The contexts investigated here had similarities and differences that represented peculiar lifestyles in the Amazon river region. Both presented forest vegetation and delimitations from regional rivers, contextual aspects that characterize the disposition of the houses where lands

The authors [21, 22, 23]indicated that this disposition of geographic isolation, marked by the presence of rivers, reveals an important contextual characteristic that is necessary to under‐ stand the composition of relationships established in the Amazon river communities. To reach out to neighbors, one must go through natural barriers that restrict exiting from the domestic environment. Therefore, the groups of river families turn to themselves, intensely sharing

are flooded and promote isolation although they are close to each other.

of discordance, we consulted the project mentors.

learning activities in addition to formal teaching).

**7. Results and discussion**

**7.1. Contextual characteristics**

**6. Data compilation**

In the present study, we used two representative families, one from each context (focal families), and the choice was made by considering accessibility and availability.
