Abstract

LINO, Jaisson Teixeira  and  ARAUJO, Fabio. The “Kaingang” people and the struggle for land in southern Brazil. Ethnic and social conflicts in Iraí, Rio Grande do Sul. Rev. hist. am. argent. [online]. 2023, vol.58, n.2, pp.15-33.  Epub Dec 18, 2023. ISSN 2314-1549.  http://dx.doi.org/10.48162/rev.44.044.

The article seeks to study the interethnic relations originated in the coexistence between non-indigenous people and the Kaingang native people in Iraí (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). Until today, the relationships are articulated -mainly- around the commercial exploitation of the thermal water sources. The town hall of Iraí -located in the Northwest of Rio Grande do Sul-, preserves an indigenous reservation (called Terra Indigena in the brazilian laws) where the Kaingang people live. It was demarcated at the beginning of the 1990’s, after the process of organization and indigenous struggle. This study aims to address the tensions, contradictions and different manifestations of coexistence on the inter-ethnic border at different times and economic circumstances in the recent history of Iraí, seeking to understand the underlying motivations for the actions of the native settlers. The research is based on different sources, like newspaper news, specialized bibliography and a trial, resulting from an action filed in defense of the preservation of the environment and the local landscape. As a hypothesis, we propose that the inter-ethnic border was more rigid in those moments in which the presence of indigenous people was not understood as economically convenient for the commercial interests of public and private agents in the region.

Keywords : Indigenous people; inter-ethnic conflicts, Ethnohistory.