Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: GEOVANA MENDES BARROS

The indigenous question of Vale do Jaguaribe/CE: territoriality, resistance and permanence of the original peoples

Indigenous Question; Jaguaribe Valley; Territorialities; Resistances; Craftsmanship.

The indigenous issue in the Jaguaribe Valley involves many violent processes that during the colonial period, with occupation by pastoral activity and religious missions, were expressed in acculturation, miscegenation, and extermination that resulted in the “disappearance” of the original peoples, such as the Paiacu ethnicity. Faced with this scenario, these indigenous people reworked their resistance through survival strategies. In contemporary times, even though they are not physically present in people's daily lives, they continue to manifest themselves in habits, customs, and traditions that cross generations, such as handicrafts with carnauba straw carried out in the municipality of Itaiçaba. With the verification of this “absence” in this work, we question which territorialities are present in the region of Vale do Jaguaribe that show the resistance and permanence of its original peoples. Through qualitative and ethnographic research, with the support of oral history through semi-structured interviews with women artisans, our general objective is to analyze the territoriality, resistance, and permanence of the indigenous peoples of Vale do Jaguaribe/CE. As specific objectives, we seek 1) To understand the territorialities of the indigenous presence in the Jaguaribe Valley; 2) to Identify the resistance and permanence of indigenous peoples materialized in the culture of the region; 3) To present the territoriality, resistance, and permanence through the production of handicrafts in Itaiçaba. Finally, this analysis highlights the role of women who make straw handicrafts and who reproduce, even if unconsciously, the resistance of the indigenous peoples of this region.