"We've got Indian blood and sweat": resistance, ethnicity and political struggles of the Tapuias in Lagoa do Tapará -RN
Indigenous resistance; Ethnicity; Tapuias of Lagoa do Tapará.
The present study addresses the Indian issue by means of a discussion involving ethnicity and political struggle. Through the experience of the Tapuia Indians from Lagoa do Tapará, Rio Grande do Norte, I intend to investigate the Indian resistance in this community, analyzing their history, memory, social relationships and socio-political structure articulated with their political claims. My intention is to understand how the political organization process of the Tapuia has been happening and its possible connection with the group’s ethnicity. In order to achieve said intention, I sought to oversee the relations of the members between both themselves and other Indian and non-Indian groups - be it through partnerships or conflicts as well as the elements used to delimit their differences. The anthropological research made it possible to understand how the Lagoa do Tapará’s Tapuaias (re)build their socio-political organization, rework their culture, give new meaning to their values and fortify their mobilization strategies in the present context of the struggle for civil rights.