The 250 years of contact of the Xerente with non-indigenous peoples have not affected their ethnic identity. The rapid and intense social, political, and economic transformations which affect the region in which they live have actually provided these people an opportunity to participate actively - although not without difficulties - in the decision-making processes which involve them. In the eye of the hurricane of economic development of the State of Tocantins, the Xerente continue to express by other means what is most traditional of them: their warrior ethos.