The Indigenous Peoples in Brazil program is the most solid inheritance that ISA received from the former Ecumenical Center of Documentation and Information (CEDI). The formation of this work goes back to the beginning of the 1970s, when the military dictatorship launched its National Integration Plan, opening up highways through the Amazon forest and implanting huge economic projects. These devastated the lands of indigenous peoples who were still relatively isolated from contact with the national society. During this era, the situation faced by the diminishing array of Brazilian Indians was little known by the public, the government, and even anthropologists; the only data available were outdated, partial, and uneven information.

This was the context in which ISA began to put together an extensive network of voluntary collaborators, not only to “put Indians on the Brazilian map,” but also to assist indigenous peoples in their decisions about their future. This network has continued to expand, including researchers, indigenists, missionaries, Indians, doctors, journalists, photographers, and others who collaborate with ISA in activities that give greater visibility to indigenous peoples by providing current, authoritative information.

 

Publications in the series, Recent Events: Indigenous Peoples in Brazil

The series of publications in the Indigenous Peoples in Brazil program known as Aconteceu (literally, “it happened,” i.e., “recent events”) is the most complete collection in existence on the current situation and recent history of indigenous peoples living in Brazil. The series deals with topics such as indigenist and indigenous politics, legislation, conflicts, the status (both legal and de fato) of indigenous territories, health, education, and economic projects. Information, news, and analyses are gathered and published every five years (formerly once a year), totally nine volumes so far that cover the period from 1980 through 2000.

The task of periodically constructing such broad overviews is like fitting together thousands of jigsaw puzzle pieces without knowing what the final picture will be. To do so successfully within the context of civil society – not the state – requires maintaining contacts in a network of volunteer collaborators and persistent efforts by members of ISA’s research team, who are guided by an editorial culture based on participatory, cumulative strategies.  

“Indigenous Peoples in Brazil” on the Internet

One of the main sections on ISA’s website, linked to its home page, is devoted to the information gathered through the Indigenous Peoples in Brazil program. It contains texts, news, tables, graphs, lists, maps, photographs, and other illustrations, organized in an accessible manner that makes available a wide array of authoritative, updated data on the situations of native peoples and their territories. With directions in Portuguese or English, visitors to the site can navigate through multiple entry points and keywords: according to ethnic names (“Who they are”), population (“How many”), location (“Where they live”), as well as languages, territories, legal rights, indigenous and support organizations, and reference sources (containing bibliographies organized by group and type of material).  

Encyclopedia of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil

The Encyclopedia, also available on ISA’s website, contains over a hundred entries on different indigenous groups, and is projected to cover 220 peoples as more entries are added. The purpose of this project is to systematize the accumulating knowledge about the contemporary native sociodiversity of Brazil. ISA, with its extensive archives of texts, images, and maps, in conjunction with its network of collaborators, is in an ideal position to facilitate access by the general public to this specialized information. This represents an unprecedented project in Brazil: producing a reference work on the sociocultural diversity of native peoples living in the country. The Encyclopedia’s entries organized by ethnic group, contain information on their history, cultural practices, social organization, language, myths, rituals, and other sociocultural, political, and economic aspects. The Encyclopedia of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil is also in the process of being assembled in book form, based on the website entries, to be published in the near future. 

Team

Editor and Coordinator: Fany Ricardo (anthropologist)
Editor: Carlos Alberto Ricardo (anthropologist)
Editor: Valéria Macedo (anthropologist)
Web Designer: Eduardo Utima
Intern: Rodrigo L. Castardo
Collaborators: Júlio Cesar Melatti, Luis Donisetti, Marta Amoroso  

Partnerships and funding sources

  • Interecclesiastic Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO), Netherlands: institutional support

  • Norwegian Church Aid (NCA): institutional support

  • Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation, Norwegian Program for Indigenous Peoples (NORAD-PNPI): financial support