Activities on neighboring ranches

The oldest form of temporary outside work among the Terena is the “contract jobs" on the nearby ranches. In the region of the old Terena territory, it is very difficult to find a rural property that has not relied on Terena force to “open it” (that is, to substitute the native forest for pastures) or maintain it. And their forms of labor (permanent or temporary) have varied over Terena history after the war with Paraguay: Terena history recalls the transition from the “compulsory permanent” (or “time of servitude", in the definition of the Terena of Cachoeirinha), to the "autonomous temporary", passing through the “colonial situation".

Today the dominant (and almost exclusive) form of indigenous labor on the ranches is what we call “autonomous temporary". In general, indigenous labor is requested “voluntarily” for the jobs of setting up fences, post-cutting, cutting the pastures and helping in setting aside calves and in the gathering of beans. For this kind of work, older Indians (in the 35-50 year old age range) are given preference – and their hiring depends in large part on the friendship they cultivate with the foremen of these ranches. Generally speaking, the mature men that occasionally exercise this kind of outside work already have their “preferred” ranches (or their “boss” as they say).

Altenfelder Silva, half a century ago, observed how this kind of autonomous outside labor mobility was incorporated by the Terena in their division of time: "As far as work on the nearby ranches is concerned, which it seems to us is a regime that will last for a long time, it is necessary to remember that the ancient Terena did not act in a very different way; they planted seeds in the rainy season and, in the dry, they dedicated themselves to hunting and fishing. Today hunting and fishing are no longer possible due to the lack of adequate territory, and the work on the ranches has come to correspond, in a certain way, to these activities" (1949).

Temporary rural labor, or the changa

The spatial limitation of the Reserve was a contributing factor (and still is) to the transformation of its internal space into a space for the growth of a “... labor force in its savage state, susceptible to being utilized in the most rudimentary levels of work", in the words of Cardoso de Oliveira (1978). Temporary work outside the reserves, in its various modalities, has been an integral part of the daily lives of the Terena even before the creation of the Reserves, as has been observed. The types of employment offered have changed, but the need for work outside to obtain “living conditions" (as they say) has not changed over the past nearly 12 decades.

The extinct SPI was the principal agency responsible for the “domestication" of this labor force and the imposition of a truly colonial power structure (Cardoso de Oliveira, 1968: chapter III). And, as has been said, little would change in this structure of power with the substitution of the SPI by the Funai. However, the increase in “scale” of the search for manual labor for the sugarcane plants provided a motive for that public employee (with the approval of the “captain” and authorization from Campo Grande) to start collecting a tax, per Indian hired, from the intermediaries (“gatos”) of the plants. The money so raised was supposed to be used in the “maintenance” of several activities of the post. This resource would come to be, in the ‘80s, the main attraction for the dispute over the “captaincy"... and an important source of earnings for the Indigenous Post.

The administration of the changa (as the temporary work on the ranches and today, on the sugar and alcohol plants, is regionally called) would come to be one of the main – if not the main – roles exercised by the nucleus of power on the reserve (head of the Post, captain and privileged members of the Council). Thus, by sustaining the position of power, presently, that nucleus is responsible for the exclusive indication of the "cabeçantes" – leading figures of the village, who are necessarily literate, who are in charge of the “crews" of workers hired by the contractor of the plants. These "leading figures” receive a higher salary and are held totally responsible for “their” crew (consisting of 40 to 60 workers) distributing (and noting) the tasks done during the day-to-day work of cutting the sugarcane. The selection of these individuals is basically determined by relations of the kingroup and – above all – by the suborning of loyal followers, which occurs during the elections, and is done by the candidates on the captain. A good "cabeçante" brings political dividends to his "godfather".

Hunting, fishing and gathering activities

As paradoxical as it may appear to be, the Indians on the Reserves where we worked speak of their hunts and above all their fishing expeditions with the same enthusiasm with which they speak of their gardens. In our research we discovered that these activities still have a fundamental importance for the subsistence of many domestic groups, particularly the “poorer” groups – and which have few resources to acquire animal protein in the meatshops of the purutuyé. But these activities, which are clandestine (the hunting and fishing areas still available are today on nearby ranches), cannot “appear” (on hunts, the weapon is always hidden and the dead animal is cut up and “hidden” in a bag, with plant material) – not even to other “fellow Indians".

These activities were exercised with greater intensity until the mid-1970s, when the forests and galley forests of the region were still abundant. In the scrub forests and swamps (low areas around the rivers) near the Reserves, there are still quite a few peccaries, tapirs, deer (brockets) and stags. Since the ranchers never stayed (nor stay) on the ranches, and as the “foremen” were fellow Indians or known by them, permission to hunt was guaranteed. With the "clearing" of continuous areas for the formation of artificial pastures, in the areas near the Reserve – which became more intense from the 1970s on – at the same time the hunting areas were reduced, the repression and vigilance of the “landholders” increased.

Hunting on the ranches of the region has been repressed since the time of the SPI, including through punishment for those Indians who hunted on the ranches. Since it is clandestine, this activity involves a high risk – and resources, such as the shotgun and ammunition, besides a willingness to suffer the consequences, for if caught by a ranch employee, he will have his weapon and the game apprehended, as well as a possible warning from the federal agent of the Funai. Actually, the areas which are most sought out are those where the vigilance of the ranch managers is weakest. The use of dogs on these expeditions is of vital importance – but it involves one more risk. The present-day owners of neighboring properties complain that these expeditions frighten the cattle, which puts the “integrity” of their herds (sic) in risk.

Today, fishing is another activity that the Terena practice or seek to practice assiduously, despite the fact it runs almost the same risks as hunting. In the dry season, on the Cachoeirinha, Taunay-Ipegue and Buriti reserves, this activity involves surprisingly large numbers of Indians.

The gathering of honey and fruits, very important in the recent past, no longer has the same significance – and seems to be restricted to a game of the children. Other noteworthy extractivist activities which are still present on the Cachoeirinha and Taunay-Ipegue today are gathering firewood (for the kitchens and also for the heating of ceramics) and medicinal plants. The dependency of many families on lumber as a source of energy (something that doesn’t occur, for example, on the Buriti Reserve) is, besides ceramics, the main factor responsible for the maintenance of what is left of significant forests on the Reserves mentioned.

Work in the urban context

The urbanization of the Terena family groups, which has been growing since the end of the ‘50s, is connected to the overpopulation of the Reserves and the lack of future on them. Cardoso de Oliveira, who exhaustively analyzed this phenomenon (1968, chapter VI) counted, back in 1960, 418 Terena individuals living in Campo Grande. At that time, the “liberal”professions (bricklayers, bricklayer’s assistant, office assistant, etc.) and steady jobs on the extinct Railway (Northwest Railway of Brazil) were the main activities exercised by the Terena in the urban context. In fact, "...the phenomenon of urbanization is internal to the Reserves and is due to their actual sizes; it is not motivated by the “acculturative attraction" of the urban centers" (Azanha, 2000:70). There is a consensus among all the Terena living on the reserves, whom we interviewed, that "if the Reserve had the proper conditions, the need (sic) to leave it wouldn’t be so great". This assertion is entirely valid in the present day, when they know perfectly well that the job conditions, even though temporary and with requirements for work experience, are becoming ever more difficult.

We did not survey exhaustively what kind of work the Terena who leave the Reserves are doing in the urban centers. In the interviews conducted, the jobs mentioned most frequently were “housemaid", "security guard" and "salesman" – which is consistent with the age bracket of the urbanized Indians (25-35 years of age). The Terena "in the city situation" are concentrated mainly in Campo Grande. However, most of these Indians still have strong links with the Reserves. In the research conducted in the context of the FUNAI Work Group, many of the residents of these reserves confirmed that their kin “in the city situation” send a small part of what they are able to earn to their kin on the reserves. On the other hand, the proportion of women (six out of every ten) that move from the Reserves to the cities is greater than that of the men – demonstrating that it is relatively easier for the women to find a place (and adapt themselves to) the urban context, the great majority of them being “housemaids". And it is through marriage that the migrant women try to get out of that situation.