Abstract:
This dissertation studies the migratory phenomenon to the Amazon area focusing on the
migration of Lutherans coming from Southern and Southeastern Brazil and on the action of
the Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana no Brasil (IECLB) [The Evangelical Church of
Lutheran Confession in Brazil]. The geographical area corresponds with the boundaries of the
Amazonia Synod. The time frame limits are the migration of the first Lutherans to the region
in 1967 and the incorporation of the region into the ecclesisatical structure in 1997. The
Amazonia Synod was instituted in that year. The study is subdivided into two chapters and is based on social and cultural history. In
the first, the migratory initiative is approached through sociological and anthropological
studies, seeking the causes and motives for the migration. In this first chapter the process of
the cultural encounter with other migrants, with the cabocla (mixed Black, Indian,
European) populations who had colonized and lived in the region and with the indigenous
population is also highlighted since the Lutheran migrants entered into competition with these
groups for the possession of the land. In the second chapter, the dissertation talks of the action of the church in mounting
structures and accompanying these migrants. The IECLB encouraged the migration and the
permanence of the Lutherans in the Amazon area. It created and maintained projects that
attracted and helped the settlers to stay on the land. The goal of this work was to favor the
migrants in general and also the cabocla population. During this period the IECLB also
began to work with the indigenous peoples of the region. The idea was to tend to the person
as a whole and tend to all people as the saying went at the time. Thus, in this new context,
the church practiced new ways of being a church . The dissertation seeks to analyze these
different ways and the friction and conflicts that result from the clash between them.
