A reinvenção da vida: protagonismo indígena nos Vales do Mucuri, Jequitinhonha e Rio Doce em Minas Gerais

Abstract

This thesis presents the results of an ethnographic research project, carried out with the Aranã, Krenak and Mucurim peoples, in the Jequitinhonha, Doce and Mucuri Valleys, in the State of Minas Gerais, having as its problem the analysis of the resistance and struggle, and as one of its consequences, a process of resurgence/reinvention. For this we analyzed the ambivalence, life-death, or survival and invisibility, present in the history of the local communities, as well as the effects of the process of colonization. The possible influences and consequences caused by the intervention in the life of these people were discussed, especially those relating to the emergence of a stigmatized memory, which did not impede, in the last years, the resurgence of some of the peoples, among them, the Mucurim and Aranã. We analyzed the historical and social situation with the goal of verifying the influence of Christianity in the historical constitution of these peoples, since we understand that the Catholic Church, supporting colonization, exerted a dual role, which made possible the entrance into and occupation of the territories, while at the same time propitiating new cultural and religious foundations for the inhabitants of this region.