Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 10. Mariano Tupã-Mirim. Guarani shaman in southern Brazil performing a
curing ceremony, 2003.
But what Gramsci meant by cultural hegemony only became crystal clear to
me when I began working for Guarani communities in the industrial state of
São Paulo, where I am originally from. As a medical anthropologist, I set out to
document the health situation of the Indigenous Peoples living in that prosperous
capitalist state. What I found out during my post-doctoral fellowship at the
University of São Paulo (USP), from 1997 to 1999, made me reconsider what
I had often learned about the Guarani, Kaingang, Terena, and other Indigenous
Peoples living on Terras Indígenas and in shantytowns inside and all around the
gigantic São Paulo metropolitan area. Even from anthropologists I had heard that
such peoples had “lost their culture” or that they had “turned into poor peasants.”
Studies about Indigenous Peoples were mostly conducted in central Brazil or
in the Amazon, where “real Indians” were still alive. However, a close look at
how the Guarani and other peoples in the state of São Paulo were living their
lives showed me the extent to which the dominant cultural hegemony during the
turn of the 21
st
century took a toll on the lives of Indigenous Peoples in southern
Brazil.
