Agricultural projects and plans for the “emancipation” of the Terena people during the Geisel’s dictatorship

Abstract

Supported by information obtained through journalistic sources, academic publications and official documents, this article examines the contexto of the visit of the President of Brazil Ernesto Geisel to the indigenous village of  Bananal, in the city of Aquidauana, in 1977, and analyzes the purposes of the federal government that were intended for the Terena indigenous people. The issues focused here concern the plans to emancipate the ethnic group from state tutelage and the agricultural projects that Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI) implemented in the communities with the intention of developing commercial farming. The receptiveness of the natives to the presence of the political representative of the nation and to the proposals put on the agenda by their government was detailed considering statements made by the leaders of this people. The speeches of public authorities about the Terena and their emancipation, the expectations placed by them in the Community Development Projects that were applied in the areas occupied by the native peoples considered “more integrated” were also treated by us with special attention. The conclusion is that the Brazilian State, by treating the Terena as subaltern people - disregarding some of their traditional economic standards and practices and trying to abruptly suppress the assistance provided to them – ended up exercised over them what Anibal Quijano calls “coloniality of power”. However, the indigenous community, with its ability to organize, put in place strategies of resistance and negotiation, increasing the struggle for differentiated assistance and specific territorial rights.