Radical Territories in the Brazilian Amazon: The Kayapó’s Fight for Just Livelihoods

296 Pages·2016·3.567 MB·English

by  Laura Zanotti

Radical Territories in the
Brazilian Amazon
Native Peoples of the Americas
Laurie Weinstein, Series Editor
Radical Territories
in the Brazilian
Amazon
The Kayapó’s Fight for
Just Livelihoods
Laura Zanotti
TUCSON
Te University of Arizona Press
www.uapress.arizona.edu
© 2016 Te Arizona Board of Regents
All rights reserved. Published 2016
Printed in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-13: 978-0-8165-3354-1 (cloth)
Cover design by Miriam Warren
Cover illustration based on a topographic map by Nicole Kong
Publication of this book is made possible in part by the proceeds from a permanent
endowment created with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Zanotti, Laura, author.
Title: Radical territories in the Brazilian Amazon : the Kayapó’s fght for just livelihoods /
Laura Zanotti.
Other titles: Native peoples of the Americas.
Description: Tucson : Te University of Arizona Press, 2016. | Series: Native peoples of the
Americas | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2016007086 | ISBN 9780816533541 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Cayapo Indians—Brazil—Social conditions. | Cayapo Indians—Politics
and government—21st century. | Cayapo Indians—Government relations.
Classifcation: LCC F2520.1.C45 Z36 2016 | DDC 981/.13—dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2016007086
Tis paper meets the requirements of aNsi/Niso Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
A Note on Orthography xi
Introduction 3
Introduction 3
A’Ukre 14
Making Indigenous Territorialities 24
Loose in the World 39
Just Methods 45
The Exhibition of Chapters 48
1 The Making of a Border and Territory 53
Introduction 53
Origins 56
Contact 65
Development and Democratization 71
Neodevelopmental Futures 78
Conclusion 86
2 Performing Ceremony, Making Beauty 90
Introduction 90
What Is in a Name? 99
The Social Life of Naming 103
On Being 111
Macaws 116
Body Painting 119
Conclusion 122
3 “No One is Capable of Eating Money” 126
Introduction 126
Swidden, Shifting, and Slash-and-Burn Cultivation 131
Fields, Forests, and Food 137
Digging 145
Soils 152
Space and Time 155
Conclusion 159
vi Contents
4 Valuing Nature 163
Introduction 163
To NTFP or To Not NTFP 167
Fruits in a Wet Land 174
Brazil Nuts 180
Conclusion 188
5 Communities and Conservation Redux 190
Introduction 190
Communities and Conservation 195
Pinkaití 200
Partnering 203
Conclusion 212
6 Returns 217
Introduction 217
Unsettled Geographies 219
Belo Monte 225
Mejkumrei 227
Notes 231
Bibliography 243
Index 273
Illustrations
Figure 1. Map of the Kayapó Indigenous Lands. 6
Figure 2. Aerial View of A’Ukre. 15
Figure 3. Villager leaders in the men’s house. 17
Figure 4. Deforestation around the Kayapó Lands. 79
Figure 5. Close up of the plaza area where ceremonies take place. 91
Figure 6. Young women readying to paint a visitor’s arm in the village. 93
Figure 7. Silver basin full of urucum, the base of the red paint. 97
Figure 8. Men dancing during a ceremony. 104
Figure 9. Example of a swidden feld in process. 138
Figure 10. Women roasting sweet potatoes on an open fre. 145
Figure 11. Sweet potato and watermelon harvests. 148
Figure 12. Close up of shelled Brazil nut from a nearby grove. 182
Figure 13. Pinkaití Project House at Pinkait Research Station. 192
Figure 14. Group walking down forest trails, not far from Pinkaití. 192

Acknowledgments
Tis work would not have been possible without the continuing support and
vision of the community of A’Ukre. I have been honored by the invitation of
the community of A’Ukre to share in their pursuit of just livelihoods, and I have
learned from all whom I have worked with how to consider alternative futures.
I want to express my deepest gratitude and debt to the community, who have
opened and continue to open their lives to me and others. My adopted family,
invited me into their home, and spent countless hours helping me learn what
it means to be beautiful and Kayapó. I want to thank many for ofering time
spent in the forest and savannah, others for teaching me how to fsh, and all
the other countless community members who took me to their gardens, felds,
or enjoined me to dance in the festivals. I have continued to share friendship,
gentleness, laughter, and humor throughout the years with friends made since
2004, and I continue to be inspired by the Kayapó peoples’ vision of a good life.
I received a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant
and a University of Washington’s Chester Fritz Grant for Research and Exchange
for fnancial support for this research. A Purdue Research Foundation Grant and
College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University Engagement Grant made subsequent
work possible. Since I joined Purdue University, the Department of Anthropol-
ogy, Te American Studies Program, and the Center for the Environment have
all been important strongholds that anchor and ground intellectual engagement
and inquiry. I would like to thank in particular Ellen Gruenbaum, Evie Black-
wood, Michele Buzon, and Melissa Remis for their welcoming comments and
conversations over the years. Leigh Raymond, Linda Prokopy, Kimberly Marion
Suiseeya, and Zhao Ma at the Center for the Environment have been instru-
mental in helping me keep my nose to the ground, and Shannon McMullen,
Rayvon Fouche, and Susan Curtis have been supportive of humanities social sci-
ence hybrids. I’d like to thank my students, who have inspired me to be a better
mentor, scholar, and community partner. Many conversations during my polit-
ical ecology and methods seminars serve as a catalyst for ideas and inspiration.
I began what was to become a longstanding partnership with Dr. Diego Soares
da Silveira on a trip down the Xingu river in 2008. Diego has helped to facilitate
ongoing research permits and cross-institutional dialogue. He has been an indis-
pensible intellectual interlocutor over the past several years. In Brazil, I would
also like to thank Julio Cezar Melatti, Marcela Coelho de Souza, Denny Moore,
and Luis Barbosa. Barbara Zimmerman, at the Wild Foundation’s Kayapó Pro-
gram and Adriano Jerozolimski and Valdeis at the Associação Floresta Protegida
deserve my heartfelt appreciation and respect. Teir logistical support at various
points during feldwork and openness and kindness to share their mission and