“Our people never die, our roots will save us": Rights violations, the imposition of colonial markers and the struggle for territory, from the oral memory of the Pankararu indigenous people

Abstract

This research aims to understand, from the oral memory of indigenous leaders, the historical context of rights violations to which the Pankararu Indigenous People were subjected. The general objective of the study is to analyze what the oral memory of Pankararu indigenous leaders reveals about the process of settlement and the presence of the SPI, the imposition of colonial markers and the subsequent process of struggle to secure territory. Among the findings of the research is the influence of state techniques of social control, and consequently acculturation of the Pankararu people through the settlement and, later, the Indian Protection Service (SPI), on the internal dynamics of the people. It reveals aspects of the colonial project that did not cease over time, but instead perpetuated new forms of colonial-state violence. The imposition of white culture, through Catholicism and authoritarianism, and the consequences of the process of erasing the interculturality of the Pankararu indigenous people, are also aspects observed. In the meantime, a critique of the new forms of imposition, this time by the Protestant religion, is made based on the denial of religiosity and culture by members of the people. Finally, the arduous historical struggle of the Pankararu people for their historically occupied territory is highlighted, in order to protect their identity, roots and ancestry. The territory, which is extremely important for the survival of the Pankararu indigenous community, is a guarantee that is.