By SOLENI BISCOUTO FRESSATO
The cinema of indigenous peoples as a place of resistance and otherness.
Since the first Europeans arrived in Brazilian territory, in 1500, the set of knowledge and practices of indigenous peoples has aroused interest and strangeness. From then on, they were the object of various imagery representations (painting, engraving and photography), being portrayed, in most cases, as the inferior, savage, ignorant and barbaric “other”, bearers of primitive and uncultured customs. Until the 1970s, similar representation was repeated in cinema.
Producers, directors and directors were more in tune with the State and an economic elite, collaborating with ethnocentric and universalist values, fixing stereotypes and spreading a representation in which indigenous peoples were situated in the archaic past, which should be overcome. All this filmography was in tune with the European and North American ventures, in the sense of permanence of a colonizing project on the original peoples.
Adventure and romantic films created an entire imaginary, in which the indigenous person appeared as a naive, childish, lazy and exotic being. Examples of this period are the guarani (1916) Iracema (1919) ubirajara (1919) the diamond hunter (1932) and Discovery of Brazil (1937) Iracema e the guarani are adaptations of the homonymous works by José de Alencar, recognized for his Indianist novels, a Brazilian literary movement that, despite valuing indigenous peoples, ended up idealizing them, portraying them as a mythical national hero. Both films had as main actors Giorgina Nodari and Vittorio Capellaro, Italians living in Brazil. To give the characters a more “real” tone, the actors “reddened” their faces, in an attempt to “look more indigenous”.
The absence of indigenous actors was not the biggest problem. This first phase of Brazilian fictional cinema was not concerned with carrying out effective anthropological research on the way of life and culture of indigenous peoples. On the contrary, it was based on preconceived, standardized and generalized images, established by common sense, which disparaged the indigenous people. The result of this distancing from the real conditions of indigenous culture was the production and dissemination of fantastic or depressing images of a non-existent Indian, in tune with the interests of hegemonic groups.
However, there were some productions more concerned with documenting the indigenous way of life, such as the photographic and cinematographic production of the Rondon Commission. With the main objective of occupying a still unknown part of the Brazilian territory and defending national borders, from 1890 onwards the young Brazilian Republic (declared in 1889) set up a series of commissions to implement telegraph lines and posts throughout the interior of the country.
By making contact with dozens of indigenous groups that were on the mapped route, the commissions, headed by Marshal Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, became emblematic for the large volume of ethnographic and iconographic material they collected, stimulating the first indigenous policies in Brazil. Among these films, we can mention The Hinterlands of Mato Grosso (1912) and Roosevelt Expedition (1914), both released commercially in 1915, and Bororo Rituals and Festivities (1916)[I]
Another positive contribution was made by Silvino Santos, with the documentary films In the country of amazons (1922) and On the trail of Eldorado (1925). With the financing of farmers involved in rubber extraction, Silvino emphasized, without resorting to romanticism, various elements of the Amazonian world, among them, the indigenous way of life. In 2017, In the country of amazons was chosen as one of the hundred best Brazilian documentaries by the Brazilian Association of Film Critics.
The output of Czechoslovak designer, painter, photographer and videographer Vladimir Kozák,[ii] who settled in Paraná at the end of the 1930s, also contributed to the construction of indigenous alterity. Despite the large number of scenes from carnivals and congadas,[iii] what stands out the most is his contribution in recording the indigenous customs of the Xetás group, who until the 1950s inhabited the Serra dos Dourados region, in the municipality of Umuarama, in the northwest of the state of Paraná. In the 1950s and 1960s, Vladimir Kozák expanded his interest in indigenous tribes, visiting several of them across the country, resulting in an enormous record of their habits in the most varied languages (drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs and cinema), making a decisive contribution to the ethnography of the Brazilian Indian.[iv]
In the 1960s and 1970s, inspired by the New wave French and Italian Neorealism, Cinema Novo appeared in Brazil. In addition to the strong criticism of social inequality, Cinema Novo proposed to think about the ethnic diversity of the Brazilian people, highlighting the strong presence of black and indigenous culture in the configuration of national identity. Despite the “good intentions”, Cinema Novo, with the film by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, How delicious my French was (1971), reinforced the stereotypes of lust and sensuality, normally attributed to indigenous people.
The “urgent cinema” of indigenous peoples
It was only in the 1980s that indigenous people began to have access to audiovisual technology, producing images of themselves, “moving from the place of object to that of subjects”,[v] not just from their own images, but in the construction of their stories. These productions work as a counter-narrative, since they are representations capable of confronting a whole collection of stereotyped and denialist images of indigenous culture. They are images of different peoples that give visibility to the historical present, their needs and struggles, at the same time that they re-elaborate their identities, producing new meanings.
In indigenous hands, cinema became a powerful tool for the construction of identities, serving counter-hegemonic political and cultural purposes, being used in the fight against geographic expulsion and ecological and cultural annihilation. The displacement of exclusive production control (technical and technological) and consumption into the hands of the indigenous peoples, transformed cinema into a source of recognition, appreciation, revitalization, re-signification, registration and cultural diffusion.
It was thinking about the possibility of contributing to the otherness of indigenous peoples that French-Brazilian anthropologist, photographer and filmmaker Vincent Carelli founded, in 1987, the NGO Video nas Aldeias (VNA), the inaugural milestone of indigenous cinema in Brazil. VNA has always been concerned with teaching the craft of filmmaking to indigenous people, offering courses in script writing, capturing and editing images, in the villages themselves. With this initiative, it provided indigenous people with autonomy in the production of films, so that they could choose how they would like to be seen and remembered. The NGO Video nas Aldeias (VNA) also encouraged the formation of collectives and the organization of festivals and events among the different indigenous peoples, so that they could dialogue and learn about the cinema that each group was producing, in an exchange of knowledge.[vi]
Another project is “Who tells my story?”, coordinated by Daniela Valle de Loro and Christophe Dorkeld. Carried out since 2018, the project is aimed at teachers and students from the Dourados Indigenous Reserve, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, and aims to train indigenous peoples in the use of photographic and cinematographic technical resources. The idea is to promote a break with silencing and cultural reappropriation, updating the processes of preservation and transmission of memories and helping to face racism, prejudice and discrimination.
Unlike writing, audiovisual is a more efficient tool to capture and record indigenous culture, basically built by oral expression. In the words of a student on the project, indigenous people make cinema not just to create their own form of expression, but above all, to honor who they really are.[vii]
For indigenous peoples, making movies is much more than disseminating an image of native peoples. It is, above all, contributing to the preservation of its own memory and traditions, it is a struggle for the existence of each ethnic group, for the diversity and sovereignty of its peoples and for the continuity of its knowledge.
An example of an indigenous director is Alberto Álvares, from the Guarani Nhandeva ethnic group.[viii] For Alberto Álvares, cinema provides an encounter with the life story of a village and a people, which means finding the indigenous filmmaker's own life story. But, above all, cinema has the important function of preserving the indigenous memory and way of life. The camera, for Alberto Álvares, is a “guardian of memory”, as it “guards” words and feelings; the images are not renewed, but neither do they age, and record the wisdom, which is “stored” in the film and will not be forgotten.
Cinema is “a pedagogical work tool and a way of perpetuating memories. The record of memories and narratives appears as a call, an urgent cinema proposal, to be realized by us Guarani. Both with the intention of contributing internally to our people, providing continuity and transmission of knowledge to new generations, and externally, seeking from the surrounding society an approximation and respect for our Nhandereko".[ix]
Nhandereko e Teko Porã are Guarani expressions that mean Good Living. It is a philosophy originating from South American indigenous peoples, concerned with the reproduction of life, which has as its basic foundation the respectful and harmonious coexistence between all living beings, forming plural, sustainable and democratic societies, based on the economic logic of solidarity, use value, in the exercise of creativity and critical thinking.
Good Living, explains Acosta,[X] it is a new social, economic and political order, which seeks a radical break with the development, progress and growth of neoliberal capitalism, which are the root of the general world crisis. Competitiveness, consumerism and productivism are replaced by conscious consumption and production in a renewable, sustainable and self-sufficient way, aspiring to the well-being of communities, putting an end to social classes and redefining cultural standards and political forms of general social management in common. The time has come for people to organize themselves to recover and reassume control of their own lives, not only defending the workforce and opposing the exploitation of labor, but, above all, overcoming anthropocentric schemes of productive organization, which culminates in the destruction of the most diverse forms of life (including human life) on the planet. Good Living, which is based on the validity of the Rights of Nature and Human Rights, opens the door to the formulation of alternative visions of life and economic organization.
wild arrow, where all lives matter
The philosophy of Good Living guides the project wild arrow, an audiovisual series in seven short episodes (between 8 and 16 minutes) produced by Selvagem, Ciclo de Estudos sobre a Vida,[xi] available for free on the Wild platform[xii] and on the YouTube channel,[xiii] subtitled in Spanish, English and French. The series is idealized, directed and narrated by Ailton Krenak, with direction, script and research by Anna Dantes and general production by Madeleine Deschamps. In addition to the series, can be accessed and downloaded, also free of charge, the wild notebooks, with additional information and theoretical guidelines for each episode.
The inspiration for Arrow it was a dream that Ailton Krenak had to postpone the end of the world.[xiv] Ailton Alves Lacerda Krenak is one of the main indigenous leaders (of the Krenak people[xv]) and Brazilian environmentalist. He is a graphic producer and journalist, but since the 1970s he has dedicated himself exclusively to the indigenous movement, becoming a spokesman for their struggles and demands, being considered one of its greatest leaders, with international recognition. The 1970s were special in the process of struggle and resistance of indigenous peoples, it was in this decade that the current Brazilian indigenous movement was forged, with Ailton Krenak as a leading figure.
Ailton Krenak was involved in founding several organizations, such as the Nucleus of Indigenous Culture (1985), the Union of Indigenous Peoples (1988) and the Alliance of Forest Peoples (1989). Since 1998, Aliança has organized, under the guidance of Ailton, the Indigenous Dance and Culture Festival, with the aim of promoting integration between the different Brazilian indigenous peoples. In 1987, shortly after the end of the Military Dictatorship (1964-1985), he participated in the National Constituent Assembly, which drafted the 1988 Citizen Constitution, still in force in Brazil.
While speaking,[xvi] Ailton Krenak painted his face with black genipap ink,[xvii] in a clear and symbolic cultural manifestation of indignation, resistance and mourning. Her speech was perfectly timed with the face painting, starting and ending together. Both, speech and painting, in a powerful way, had the same purpose: the defense of indigenous rights, not only for the possession of the territory they have inhabited for thousands of years, but also to practice their culture, their knowledge and practices. Both also meant mourning for the persistent aggressions suffered by indigenous peoples.
wild arrow it is a “composting of images” from different sources and collections, that is, there is no creation of new images. Paintings, drawings, photographs and excerpts from existing films are recombined and added to the animations by Lívia Serri Francoio and the soundtrack by Gilberto Monte and Lucas Santtana, producing new knowledge and meanings. The creators and producers named this process the “creative concept of composting” in reference to the biological process of transforming organic matter into fertilizer. That is, each Arrow it has a set of multi-referential images, the organic matter, which is transformed into a cohesive yet pluriverse poetic narrative, the fertilizer.
The “composting of images” weaves together scientific, artistic and traditional understandings for the construction of a plural and democratic knowledge. The traditional and mythical knowledge of forest peoples, as well as the various artistic expressions, are as explanatory and necessary as scientific knowledge. Tradition, myth, art and science are intertwined in all seven arrows. The similarities between mythical narratives and science are striking, revealing that there are several ways of knowing and that anthropocentric rationality is just one of them. As Leonardo Boff said[xviii], myths are metaphors that express deep dimensions of the human, shedding light on ancestral experiences, where they were formed and structured, but are also updated, as they are confronted with new realities, forming syntheses. It is these syntheses that emerge with strength and beauty in each Arrow.
A total of seven episodes were scheduled.[xx], “seven arrows to postpone the end of the world”, as Ailton Krenak says. Seven attempts to make human beings aware that they inhabit a living planet, which needs to be cared for and respected, with which they have an interdependent relationship. That is, putting the Earth at risk, threatening or destroying its biomes, means the extinction of human life. This is the common guiding idea in all episodes. Several peoples around the world, among them the Brazilian indigenous people, have an animist belief, believing that all living beings are animated by the same vital principle.
Therefore, all living beings must be cared for and treated with respect, because they all contribute to the balance of the ecosystem. “We are part of a whole”, “all living beings are the same body”, “we are the same world and the same substance”, “we are a forest of lives”, “we are beings of nature” are surreptitious statements, that appear as a kind of mantra, cradling all the episodes and bringing an ecological awareness necessary for the continuity of life (including human life) on the planet. The greater whole is Gaia, the Earth, an immense biosphere that acts as a great nurturing and protective mother, but which also, because it is alive, needs to be protected, respected and cared for. The idea of integration and dependence on a greater whole puts human omnipotence in check. Humanity is not superior, cannot control the planet, nor live outside it; on the contrary, it belongs to and is dependent on an immense ecosystem that works in an integrative and non-excluding way of many forms of life, including the invisible ones.
For many peoples who inhabit the banks of the Rio Negro,[xx] among them the Desana, was a great cosmic serpent that originated all forms of life on planet Earth. Serpents, as generators of life and symbols of fertility, are present in the myths of a wide variety of peoples. It is a very old deity and spread practically all over the world. This is the theme of the first arrow, The Serpent and the Canoe. The serpents of life coincide in their form and content with the double helix of acid. deoxyribonucleic (DNA), which has a universal language of four chemical compounds, A, C, G, and T.
It is an organic compound with the genetic information that they coordinate the development and functioning of all species, transmitting the hereditary characteristics of ancestors to their descendants, affirming a hidden unity in nature. By believing that all beings, including humans themselves, emerged from the same vital principle, the people who worship the serpent as a vital creative force, have a cosmovision of deep respect for nature, creating an ethic of commitment to the preservation of life.
Em The Sun and the Flower, the second arrow, highlights the importance of the Sun, its heat and luminosity, for the existence of life on Earth. It is fundamental for the survival of many living beings and transforms the biosphere as possible. Everything that lives on Earth is a manifestation of the Sun, so the human body and many other forms of life have the same substances. One of these substances is mitochondria, the subject of the third arrow, Metamorphosis.
Mitochondria is one of the most important cell organelles and is present in all beings with eukaryotic cells (those with two well-defined parts, cytoplasm and nucleus), which encompasses a large number of animals, plants, algae, fungi and protozoa. Mitochondria are transmitted by mothers to their descendants, creating a union, invisible to the naked eye, between a large portion of the living beings that inhabit the planet, including humans.
The arrow 4, The Jungle and the Sap, points out that thanks to sunlight, plants carry out photosynthesis, capturing carbon dioxide and eliminating oxygen into the atmosphere, a fundamental chemical element for the breathing of virtually all animals.[xxx] In addition, the sunlight dives into the frequency of the waters of each cell inside the plants, from this meeting between light and water the sap, the plant blood of the plants, originates. From the sap of plants, as well as their leaves and seeds, indigenous peoples make healing teas and powders.
In 1992, at the Earth Summit (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development), held in Rio de Janeiro, the world had already become aware of the herbal erudition of indigenous peoples. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have disclosed that more than 74% of medicines or drugs of plant origin, used in modern pharmacy, were discovered by indigenous people, who had already used them for centuries in the treatment and cure of diseases.[xxiii] In other words, humanity is dependent on plants for both breathing and healing.
On Earth inhabit visible and invisible beings, creatures that collaborate to keep the biosphere alive. Cultures that have not disconnected from their origins, such as indigenous peoples, maintain a relationship with these invisible beings, the subject of arrow 5, an invisible arrow. Invisible beings are present in the human body and in other animals, regulating metabolism. In the invisible world, lives are intertwined as one. The invisible dimension of life is accessed by shamans, in trances caused by hallucinogens, and by researchers with their powerful microscopes.
On arrow 6, time and love, it is problematized how humanity is afraid of understanding itself as belonging to nature, preferring misleading explanations that place it in a position of omnipotence, dissociated from natural laws. Love is the revolutionary life energy that can overcome fear. As already indicated in the arrow Metamorphosis, love is the main line of natural functioning, interconnecting all living beings, in harmony with self-care and care for others. Not by chance, at the center of the word metamorphosis, both in Portuguese and in Spanish, is the word love.
Each Arrow rescues an ancestral knowledge that survives in the experiences of indigenous peoples. It is with them that all humanity can learn to reconnect with the vital principle present in all living beings, developing a cosmovision of love and care, respecting all forms of life. By instituting a treatment of natural life, respecting its laws of reproduction, nature will not fail to allow the reproduction of social/natural life in common. The foundation of societal life must be the understanding that the planet and its biomes are the home of social man. The inalienable unity between man/nature becomes a principle of life and an overcoming awareness of the destructiveness of capital.
Indigenous peoples have always been very attentive to nature, considering themselves as part of it. It is understood as ancestral to human existence and it is from it that these peoples assert themselves in the objective world, learning about it and about themselves. This form of relationship with nature encourages attitudes towards environmental conservation. Taking care of nature also means protecting those who live in it, that is, defending the rights of indigenous peoples. The life experiences of the indigenous people revolve around nature and are influenced by it.
According to Gudynas,[xxiii] In the ontology of indigenous peoples, there are links of reciprocity, complementarity and correspondence between humans and the Earth, because for the system to continue existing, it is necessary to reciprocate and correspond, based on a biocentric ethics. According to this ethics, there is no denial of scientific and technological advances, but they are contextualized and oriented in another direction, based on other values, which include the values of nature, ensuring the survival of biodiversity. As well, nature is understood to include people, that is, humanity will continue to take from nature everything it needs to survive, however, taking advantage of resources without destroying biomes.
Indigenous peoples and Amazonian collectors are examples of this dynamic of respect. This biocentric ethics considers that nature has its own intrinsic values that are independent of human valuations. Nature ceases to be the object of rights attributed by humans and becomes a subject of rights itself. Just as the well-being of all human beings is defended, even those that one does not know and nothing is known about, one must think about the well-being of all nature, producing new obligations with the environment.
It is necessary, as Gudynas well says, “to abandon the anthropocentric arrogance, through which the human being decides what has value, and what that value is, to find an expanded community, shared with other living beings and the rest of the environment”[xxv]. Indigenous peoples' biocentric ontologies are alternative options in environmental policy and management and are achieving substantive impact. His contributions are fundamental to understanding the limits and restrictions of modern ontology and understanding nature from other feelings, knowledge and perspectives.
Em wild arrow audiovisual technology is used to preserve memories and knowledge and to disseminate a cosmovision and a way of acting. In each of the seven arrows, the cosmovisions and practices of indigenous peoples emerge as possibilities for building loving and supportive societies in complete harmony with life on planet Earth, in an integrating relationship with nature and the world in its entirety. Societies where people perceive themselves as part of the ecosystem and are in harmony with all living beings, overcoming forms of knowledge and practices of existence based on domination and hierarchy, which prevail in neoliberalism.
The advance of the ecological crisis and the imminent destruction of humanity, materialized in the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war against Ukraine, have rescued the importance of this wisdom, placing it at the center of discussions and as a legitimate form of preservation of planet Earth and humanity.
*Soleni Biscouto Fressato, historian and sociologist, holds a PhD in social sciences from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Author, among other books, of Hillbilly yes, muggle no. Representations of country folk culture in Mazzaropi's cinema (EDUFBA).
Text originally presented in IX Journeys of History and Cine. Borders, Differences and Otredades, Carlos III University of Madrid.
References
ACOSTA, Alberto. Good Living: an opportunity to imagine other worlds. São Paulo: Literary Autonomy, Elephant, 2016.
ALVARES, Albert. From the village to the cinema: the encounter between image and history. Completion work of the Intercultural Training Course for Indigenous Educators, Federal University of Minas Gerais, 2018. Available at: .
BLASI, Oldemar. “Vladimir Kozák”. In: KOZÁK, Vladimir. Ritual of a Bororó funeral. Curitiba: Museu Paranaense, Public Library of Paraná, State Secretariat for Culture and Sport of Paraná, 1983. Available at: .
CARBINATE, Bruno. "Scientists discover animal capable of surviving without oxygen". In: Super interesting, 28 February 2020. Available at: .
CHUJI, Monica; RENGIFO, Grimaldo; GUDYNAS, Edward. “Living Well”. In: KOTHARI, Ashish; SALLEH, Ariel; ESCOBAR, Arturo; DEMARIA, Federico; ACOSTA, Alberto. Pluriverse. A post-development dictionary. São Paulo: Elephant, 2021.
NUNES, Karliane Macedo; SILVA, Renato Izidoro da; SANTOS SILVA, José de Oliveira. “Indigenous cinema: from object to subject of cinematographic production in Brazil”. In: -Polis [Online], no. 38, 2014.
Available in: .
LASMAR, Denise Portugal. The image collection of the Rondon Commission: at the Museu do Índio 1890 – 1938. 2nd ed. Rio de Janeiro: Museum of the Indian, 2001.
GUDYNAS, Edward. Rights of nature: biocentric ethics and environmental policies. São Paulo: Elephant, 2019.
KRENAK, Ailton. Ideas for postponing the end of the world🇧🇷 São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2019.
_____. life is not useful🇧🇷 São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2020.
_____. invocation to earth. Speech by Ailton Krenak in the Constituent Assembly. Wild Notebooks. Digital publication by Dantes Editora, 2021.
Available at: < http://selvagemciclo.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/CADERNO27_CONSTITUINTE.pdf>.
UNITED NATIONS. «Convention on the biological diversity signed on June 5, 1992 in Rio de Janeiro ». In: Recueil des Traités des Nations Unies, vol. 1760, 1992. Available at: .
PARADISE, Maria Hilda Baqueiro. “Krenak”. In: Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, 1998. Available at: .
TUPINAMBA, Nice. The genipap is the ancestral garment that dresses the body and spirit. In: Resistance, survival and struggle, sd Available in: .
VALLE DE LORO, Daniela; DORKELD, Christophe. Who tells my story? Reflections on an ongoing project. In: 4th SEBRAMUS – Brazilian Seminar on Museology. Democracy: Challenges for the University and for Museology. Available in: .
Notes
[I] LASMAR, Denise Portugal. The image collection of the Rondon Commission: at the Museu do Índio 1890 – 1938. 2nd ed. Rio de Janeiro: Museum of the Indian, 2001.
[ii] Mechanical engineer, Vladimir Kozák (1897-1979) migrated to Brazil in the 1920s and lived in several states, recording its ethnological and botanical aspects. In the late 1930s, he deepened his anthropological studies. Kozák's legacy is not small: there are canvases, drawings, objects, photographs and film rolls, the vast majority of which make up the collection of the Museu Paranaense. Upon arriving in Brazil, Kozák, influenced by the fantastic images of Karl May, a German writer, known for his adventure novels set in the American Old West, had unfavorable impressions of the Indians, due to the terrible conditions in which they lived and because they were almost completely , stripped of their ethnic and cultural identity. In 1927, he came into contact with the architect and painter Abraham Sario, an expert on the landscape and Indians of Mexico. This artist's paintings awakened in Kozák an interest and respect for the indigenous way of life, modifying his European way of seeing and feeling them. His vacation hobby was visiting the tribes, where he produced beautiful scenes with few resources.
[iii] The congada is an Afro-Brazilian cultural and religious manifestation consisting of a dramatic dance with singing and music that recreates the coronation of a king in the Congo.
[iv] BLASI, Oldemar. “Vladimir Kozák”. In: KOZÁK, Vladimir. Ritual of a Bororó funeral. Curitiba: Museu Paranaense, Public Library of Paraná, State Secretariat for Culture and Sport of Paraná, 1983. Available at: . Accessed on 2020 August 09.
[v] NUNES, Karliane Macedo; SILVA, Renato Izidoro da; SANTOS SILVA, José de Oliveira. “Indigenous cinema: from object to subject of cinematographic production in Brazil”. In: -Polis [Online], no. 38, 2014. Available at: .
[vi] Videos in the Villages is available at and on the YouTube channel . The vast majority of films produced by indigenous people are available on YouTube channels. His films are rarely shown in movie theaters, even in alternative ones.
[vii] VALLE DE LORO, Daniela; DORKELD, Christophe. Who tells my story? Reflections on an ongoing project. In: 4th SEBRAMUS – Brazilian Seminar on Museology. Democracy: Challenges for the University and for Museology. Available in: .
[viii] The Guarani is one of the most representative indigenous ethnic groups in the Americas, having as traditional territories a wide region of South America, which includes the national territories of Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and the central-southern portion of Brazil. Nhandeva is a contemporary Guarani people with the highest population concentration in Brazil and Paraguay.
[ix] ALVARES, Albert. From the village to the cinema: the encounter between image and history. Completion work of the Intercultural Training Course for Indigenous Educators, Federal University of Minas Gerais, 2018, p. 25. Available at: < https://www.biblio.fae.ufmg.br/monografias/2018/TCC_Alberto-versao_final.pdf>. Accessed on August 15, 2022. Some films by Alberto Álvares are available on his YouTube channel. Available in: .
[X] ACOSTA, Alberto. Good Living: an opportunity to imagine other worlds. São Paulo: Literary Autonomy, Elephant, 2016.
[xi] Available in: .
[xii] Available in: .
[xiii] Available in: .
[xiv] KRENAK, Ailton. Ideas for postponing the end of the world. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2019; life is not useful🇧🇷 São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2020.
[xv] The indigenous peoples who inhabited the Doce River region (Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and southern Bahia) were called Botocudos. Name attributed by the Portuguese, at the end of the XNUMXth century, to groups that used ear and lip plugs. The Botocudos were victims of constant massacres decreed as “just wars” by the colonial government. At the beginning of the XNUMXth century, the Botocudos who inhabited the region east of the river began to be called Krenak, the name of the leader who commanded the splitting of the Gutkrák from the Pancas river, in Espírito Santo (PARAÍSO, Maria Hilda Baqueiro. “Krenak”. In : Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, 1998. Available at: ).
[xvi] KRENAK, Ailton. invocation to earth. Speech by Ailton Krenak in the Constituent Assembly. Wild Notebooks. Digital publication by Dantes Editora, 2021. Available at: < http://selvagemciclo.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/CADERNO27_CONSTITUINTE.pdf>. Video of the speech available on the YouTube channel citizen indian. Available in: .
[xvii] Jenipapo is the fruit of the genipap tree, typical of South America. In Brazil, it can be found both in the Atlantic Forest and in the Amazon. In Guarani, jenipapo means “fruit that is used to paint”, because the juice of the unripe fruit is extracted with paint, which can be used to paint skin, walls and ceramics. Genipapo is used by many Brazilian indigenous peoples as body paint. Body paintings have several meanings, being able to identify different ethnic groups, express what the individual represents in the group and even marital status. The paintings are also different for each occasion, such as celebrations or sacred rituals. There are also drawings that show feelings, from the happiest to those of revolt and indignation at the various problems faced by indigenous peoples (TUPINAMBÁ, Nice. Genipapo is the ancestral garment that dresses the body and spirit. In: Resistance, survival and struggle, sd Available at: < https://www.nicetupinamba.com/post/o-jenipapo-é-a-roupa-da-ancestralidade-que-veste-o-corpo-eo-esp%C3%ADrito>).
[xviii] BOFF, Leonardo. know how to care. Human ethics – compassion for the earth. Petropolis: Voices, 2017.
[xx] The seventh and final episode is slated for release in December 2022.
[xx] The Negro River has its source in Colombia and flows into the Amazon River, in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. It is the seventh largest river in the world by volume of water.
[xxx] In early 2020, a group of Israeli and American researchers discovered the Henneguya Salminicola, a microscopic parasite that lives in the muscle tissues of salmon and manages to survive in the absence of oxygen (CARBINATO, Bruno. “Scientists discover an animal capable of surviving without oxygen”. In: Super interesting, 28 February 2020. Available at: ).
[xxiii] UNITED NATIONS. « Convention on the biologique diversité signed the 5 juin 1992 in Rio de Janeiro ». In: Recueil des Traités des Nations Unies, vol. 1760, 1992. Available at: .
[xxiii] GUDYNAS, Edward. Rights of nature: biocentric ethics and environmental policies. São Paulo: Elephant, 2019.
[xxv] GUDYNAS, Op. Cit., 2019, p. 165.
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