Indigenous diaspora in the Brazilian Easte: the resistance and the protagonism of the indigenous peoples in the "sertões" of Minas Gerais

Abstract

Since the colonization of Brazilian territory, indigenous peoples have been going through diasporic processes that disregard all cultural and social history in their traditional territories. Such perspectives are even more evident in regions outside the Amazon, such as in eastern Brazil, where there are few indigenous villages. In this sense, this article aims to analyze the indigenous diaspora in the Brazilian east and its political and identity emergence, still so little recognized and valued by society that, many times, is still unaware of the presence of several indigenous villages in southeastern Brazil. For this purpose, interviews with some of these populations were carried out in the Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys, as well as the collection of regional bibliographical, cartographic and documentary data and nongovernmental entities that support these populations. In this sense, we emphasize that dialogue about the past, present and future of these peoples is becoming increasingly necessary in the current context, since many of their rights acquired in recent years are being threatened by a series of public policies and stigmatizing positions and deconstructive of indigenous struggle and resistance.