Tutellary Regime and Globalization

Sociogenesis of Current Indigenous Movements in Brazil

Abstract

Data from the latest census suggest a new demographic profile of Indigenous peoples, one that no longer corresponds to small societies isolated in the Amazon rainforest. Mobilizations for land rights, schools, and other external factors have become part of the everyday lives of Indigenous peoples. The article identifies certain organizing principles, pressures, and strategies for recognition by the State. It uses the definition of territory as an analytical key and explores the social conditions under which Indigenous organizations emerge.

If, instead of treating Indigenous peoples and colonizers as totalizing and diametrically opposed categories, we explored the historical contexts in which they interact, we could open up new fields of research. The simplifying notion of a single Indigenous voice or a single Indigenous model should be replaced by an effort to understand complex historical and cultural processes, both local and global, through which we can seek to understand political strategies.