How do the lives of indigenous peoples relate to the romanticized role of "Indians" in Brazilian history, politics, and cultural production? Native and National in Brazil charts this enigmatic relationship from the sixteenth century to the present, focusing on the consolidation of the dominant national imaginary in the postindependence period and highlighting Native peoples' ongoing work to decolonize it. Engaging issues ranging from sovereignty, citizenship, and national security to the revolutionary potential of art, sustainable development, and the gendering of ethnic differences, Tracy Devine Guzman argues that the tensions between popular renderings of "Indianness" and lived indigenous experience are critical to the unfolding of Brazilian nationalism, on the one hand, and the growth of the Brazilian indigenous movement, on the other. Devine Guzman suggests that the "indigenous question" now posed by Brazilian indigenous peoples themselves--how to be Native and national at the same time--can help us to rethink national belonging in accordance with the protection of human rights, the promotion of social justice, and the consolidation of democratic governance for indigenous and nonindigenous citizens alike.

Indigenous people comprise only 0.2% of Brazil's population, yet occupy a prominent role in the nation's consciousness. In her important and passionate new book, anthropologist Alcida Ramos explains this irony, exploring Indian and non-Indian attitudes about interethnic relations. Ramos contends that imagery about indigenous people reflects an ambivalence Brazil has about itself as a nation, for Indians reveal Brazilians' contradiction between their pride in ethnic pluralism and desire for national homogeneity. Based on her more than thirty years of fieldwork and activism on behalf of the Yanomami Indians, Ramos explains the complex ideology called indigenism. She evaluates its meaning through the relations of Brazilian Indians with religious and lay institutions, non-governmental organizations, official agencies such as the National Indian Foundation as well as the very discipline of anthropology. Ramos not only examines the imagery created by Brazilians of European descent--members of the Catholic church, government officials, the army and the state agency for Indian affairs--she also scrutinizes Indians' own self portrayals used in defending their ethnic rights against the Brazilian state. Ramos' thoughtful and complete analysis of the relation between indigenous people of Brazil and the state will be of great interest to lawmakers and political theorists, environmental and civil rights activists, developmental specialists and policymakers, and those concerned with human rights in Latin America.

The earliest European accounts of Brazil’s indigenous inhabitants focused on the natives’ startling appearance and conduct—especially their nakedness and cannibalistic rituals—and on the process of converting them to clothed, docile Christian vassals. This volume contributes to the unfinished task of moving beyond such polarities and dispelling the stereotypes they fostered, which have impeded scholars’ ability to make sense of Brazil’s rich indigenous past. This volume is a significant contribution to understanding the ways Brazil’s native peoples shaped their own histories. Incorporating the tools of anthropology, geography, cultural studies, and literary analysis, alongside those of history, the contributors revisit old sources and uncover new ones. They examine the Indians’ first encounters with Portuguese explorers and missionaries and pursue the consequences through four centuries. Some of the peoples they investigate were ultimately defeated and displaced by the implacable advance of settlement. Many individuals died from epidemics, frontier massacres, and forced labor. Hundreds of groups eventually disappeared as distinct entities. Yet many others found ways to prolong their independent existence or to enter colonial and later national society, making constrained but pivotal choices along the way.

Examines the relationship of the Kayapo and Yanomami, two indigenous groups of the Amazon region, to Brazilian society and the wider world. Revised and updated from an earlier edition, the book includes new chapters on the resurgence of indigenous groups previously thought extinct and the renewed controversy among anthropologists studying the Yanomami.

DIVHow the Xavante Indians have reshaped the Brazilian government’s policies of nationalism and assimiliation./div

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Speech Science / Linguistics, grade: 1,0, University of Bremen, course: Sprachpolitik, Sprachenrechte, Sprachplanung, language: English, abstract: This paper mainly focuses on indigenous languages, indigenous laws and rights, as well as indigenous education. The first chapter deals with indigenous peoples in Brazil, their geopolitical situation, their languages and linguistic prejudices towards them. The second chapter focuses on how indigenous languages are promoted. This includes how indigenous school- and university programs have evolved in the last centuries and especially in the last decade and how didactic materials have also improved. Finally, a conclusion is drawn, followed-up by the list of sources and declaration about the authenticity of this term paper. Brazil is, generally speaking, a country of diversity. It is not only known to have the planet’s largest remaining rainforest and wildlife, but it is also known to be rich in culture. It must also be said that it has always been a migration country. Thus, in the last five centuries people from all over the world immigrated to Brazil and brought foreign rituals and traditions with them, which eventually also enriched the Brazilian culture. However, before becoming a Portuguese colony in 1500 Brazil was already inhabited by many indigenous peoples. The majority of them had been extinct through the colonization process, but even after that indigenous people had to struggle and fight for their lives. Sadly, this condition remains to be true nowadays. Although Portuguese is the official and most spoken language in Brazil, there are also about 215 other languages that are spoken in this country (Müller de Oliveira: 2009; p. 20). Most of those languages are spoken by indigenous peoples. Thus, Brazil can undoubtedly be considered to be multilingual. This vast linguistic variety, however, is neither promoted nor apprehended properly by the Brazilian government, although there are laws to protect it. Paradoxically, Brazil has always had a Monolingualism- oriented policy. Nevertheless, there are increasingly more parties, as for instance the NGO ‘Amazon Watch’ and ‘Survival’ as well as the Brazilian governmental protection agency ‘FUNAI’, which interest it is to protect the indigenous’ cultural diversity, including their languages.

This volume is a significant contribution to understanding the ways Brazil's native peoples shaped their own histories.

D. THE INDIGENOUS LANDS

A comparative study of immigration and ethnicity with an emphasis on the Chinese, Japanese, and Arabs who have contributed to Brazil's diverse mix.