A luta que (re)existe: indianidades dos Tabajaras no Piauí

Abstract

In the last four decades in Brazil, a larger number of indigenous groups started to declare their ethnic background and claim recognition of their ethnicity and their constitutional rights. In Piauí, we highlight the indigenous groups of Tabajara ethnicity, which is politically organised through the Indigenous Association of Itacoatiara de Piripiri, Organised Indigenous Association of Canto da Várzea, and Association of Indigenous People of Tabajara-Tapuio-Itamaraty. This ethnic group inaugurated a new chapter in the indigenous history in Piauí considering that, for a long period, the indigenous presence in the state did not have visibility or a voice. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyse the process of indianization of indigenous groups of Tabajara ethnicity, starting from the rescue of their history, their process of political organization and their indigenous identity. This was a qualitative study based on studies of productions of everyday meaning. The study was conducted in the cities of Piripiri/PI and Lagoa de São Francisco/PI. Participants were 20 indigenous leaders, who took part in the following activities: a) observation of daily activities; b) everyday conversations; and c) semi-structured individual or group interviews. The analysis adopted the technique of map of association of ideas, which resulted in the following chapters with the themes of: a) trajectory of Tabajara indigenous groups in Piauí; b) fight for recognition and rights of Tabajaras in Piauí; and, finally, c) meaningful aspects for Tabajara people about their identity. In sum, we observed that indigenous Tabajara groups redeveloped their ethnic and collective identity based on ancestral links related to common family and territory, which changed their self-views and allowed a critical analysis of colonialist discourses about “being indigenous”. Hence, they recreated discursive practices about their life story and their indigenous identity, using it as a strategy to fight, resist and (re)exist, aiming to oppose dominant and totalitarian discourses about indigenous groups ways of living, power relationships based on colonialism imposed on their daily lives.