Intangible heritage and ethnic tourism in an indigenous community, in Iranduba, Amazonas, Brazil.

This paper presents a view on indigenous culture expressed by an ethnic group and the relationship of this heritage with ethnic tourism. The goal of the study was to analyze the indigenous cultural expressions in the community called Sahu-Ape, located in the city of Iranduba, in the metropolitan area of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, as intangible heritage and its valorization in the tourist activity. The research was characterized as descriptive and exploratory, with qualitative character, and the main instruments of data collection were the bibliographic survey, direct observation and interviews with semi-structured open questions. The result of the study indicated that cultural expressions, such as: intangible heritage, the traditional knowledge is produced by the Community of Sahu-Ape and it showed to be relevant the possibility of being potential for ethnic tourism. With a rich mythology, the symbols are markers of the cultural tradition. The Satere-Mawe people develop tourist activities and interact naturally with the non-indigenous. In addition, they understand their impacts on their daily lives. However, in order to strengthen the ethnic tourism, it is necessary to create a policy that encourages and promotes responsible ethnic tourism using the culture.