Xavante

The process of European colonization in Brazil reconfigured the social landscape after the arrival of the Portuguese. If, until the beginning of the 20th century in the western territory of Brazil, some indigenous societies managed to remain structured and isolated, the acceleration of socioeconomic processes arising, above all, from the new political conjectures during the Military Dictatorship (1964-1985), were the last straw. water to deeply impact traditional societies in this region. Part of this process of taking over the territories of traditional populations, in addition to the extreme violence against the population, there was a continuous process of erasing the memory, history and culture of these populations that sustain and legitimize the loss of the rights of these communities.

The present research project aims to evaluate, through Archeology and Linguistics, the processes of remembering and forgetting, and the historical process arising in parallel that led to the seizure of the territory of the Xavante indigenous population of Marãiwatsédé and São Marcos, in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. To this end, interviews will be conducted for a linguistic assessment of the memory of sacred places and of cultural importance for these groups. Simultaneously, archaeological surveys will be carried out to understand the sacred places, their cultural importance and their territorial distributions during this period. From this work it will be possible to understand the social, political and cultural dynamics that have reconfigured the way of life of the Xavante populations in Brazil. It will also make it possible to think of strategies and guidelines for maintaining the customs and culture of these communities. This project aims to rescue the memory of territorial occupation aiming at the recognition and respect for the sacred places of the Xavante.

Financial Support: Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP) in Social Sciences and Humanities; Humanitarian and Human Rights Resource Center of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (HHRRC / AAFS).

Team