Da terra onde se retira o pão também se constrói o território: as transformações sócioterritoriais sofridas pelo Povo Xavante em decorrência do avanço do agronegócio na Terra Indígena Marãiwatsédé

Abstract

This thesis deals with the relationship of the Xavante of Marãiwatsédé, from the Xingu Araguaia region, with their traditional territory and the role of the latter on the conservation of their culture. The work focus on the period between 1960 and the present time. The 1940s were also a landmark to the history of the Xavante, due to the advent of the March to the West (Marcha para o Oeste), promoted during the government of Getúlio Vargas, when squatters and settlers began a long process of expropriation of the Xavante territory, especially on the east of Mato Grosso state. The March to the West let to the dispersion of several ethnic groups, among them the Xavante, in search for more secluded regions. The Xavante of Marãiwatsédé, subject of this research, moved to the northeast of Mato Grosso, where they experienced a relative state of isolation until the mid 1950s, when they were affected by another big expansionist endeavor, this time related to the agricultural occupation. In this period, a “colonizer” called Ariosto da Riva arrives in the region and purchases an extensive area of half a million hectares of Xavante territory from the government of Mato Grosso. There, he settles the Farm Suiá-Missú, that even explored the Xavante manpower. In 1962, Ariosto da Riva associated himself to the group Paulista Ometto. They were benefited by larges amounts of fiscal resources from the Superintendency for the Developmento of Amazonia and the farm enlarged to 800,000 hectares, being considered the largest Brazilian latifundium in the period. In 1966, when the Ometto group did not want the Xavante manpower anymore, due to the harsh relationship between the original dwellers and employees of the farm, which led to countless incidents, the Xavante of Marãiwatsédé, 263 individuals at this time, made a deal with the Brazilian Air Force, the Salesian Mission and the Indian Protection Service to be compulsorily transferred to the São Marcos Salesian Mission, located 400 kilometers south from their territory, where there were already other fragilized groups from the same ethnicity. Around 80 people from the group died on the first week due to a measles epidemic. Fragilized by this epidemic, the group is dispersed by numerous Xavante territories. At the beginning of the 1980s, the Chief of the Indigenous Marãiwatsédé Territory, Damião Paridzáné, starts reorganizing the ethnic group, aiming at their return to their original homeland. However, in 1992, the old Farm Suiá-Missú, now called Agropecuária (agriculture and cattle industry) Suiá-Missú, owned by Agip do Brasil S/A, a subsidiary of the Italian state company Agip Petrol, after a series of discussions along with national and international pressure, during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (ECO 92) in Rio de Janeiro, agents of Agip pledged to return part of the orginal territory to the Xavante, which did not happen. In that same year, a group of settlers started invading the area, fostered by land owners and squatters that stood there until 2013. In that year, after a long judicial battle, the intruders had to left the region. During all these years, the 165,000 hectare area was drastically decharacterized. The forest were turned into extensive grain plantations and pasture. Rivers and streams were shoaled and contaminated. These conditions had a great impact on the habitat and way of life of the Xavante of Marãiwatsédé. Considering these ordeal, this research aims at understanding the role of the territory on the identity maintenance of these people. We argue that the political control over a determined area, i.e., territorialization, is crucial for more profound changes on Xavante culture. This work used the ethnographic method, fiel work and revision of specialized literature to reach its goals.