Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The Indigenous territory is defined not only by historical criteria, but also by
cultural criteria inherent to the group (s) that inhabit (s) it. As such, we take into
consideration social institutions that determine occupation patterns, the modes
of economic exploration of the surrounding ecosystem, with the resources it
offers to the physical and cultural reproduction of the group; cosmological
references; [and] political dynamics that inform the territorial expansion or
contraction (1987:4; my translation).
Figure 2.8. Farmers' peon houses, illegally built on the Wawi Indigenous Land, 1999.
The same perspective is adopted by anthropologist Vanessa Lea in her expert
reports (called
laudos antropológicos
in Brazil) about the Juruna, Kayabi,
Suyá, Tapayuna, Mêbengokre (Kayapó), Trumai, and Panará of the Xingu Park
(1997a), and the Mêbengokre, Juruna, and Tapayuna of the Kapoto Indigenous
Land (1997b). When mapping the migration of the Suyá towards the Xingu River
Basin in the early 1800s, Lea (1997a:88-101) compares evidence compiled by
three anthropologists: Protásio Frikel (1972), Anthony Seeger (1981), and myself
(Ferreira 1992, 1994a). Our reports were based on the oral histories of Suyá
political and ceremonial leaders.
In the court case
Fioravante Bertussi e outros X União Federal e Funai
(process
number 00.0003594-7), the information collected by Ferreira (1992, 1994a) and
used by Lea (1997a) about migration to the area, and occupation of the Xingu River
Basin, stems from the narrative
A chegada dos Suyá no Xingu
(The Suyá's arrival in
Xingu), narrated by shamans Romdó and Intoni in 1990 (Ferreira 1994a:28-42). In that
