Research Lines

This line focuses on the plurality of Indigenous histories, the diversity of contexts and definitions of 'indigenism,' and the forms of political action of Indigenous, Afro-Indigenous, Quilombola, and other collectives. The line emphasizes the approach to histories and memories, territories, territorialization processes, colonization processes (including forms of schooling, religious evangelization, forced labor, among others), and the configurations of the indigenist field in a broad sense. The latter encompasses everything from imagery to power agencies and devices, from the State to civil society organizations, including the plurality of forms of organization and political action of Indigenous peoples and other traditional communities.

Members: Artionka Capiberibe, Camila Loureiro Dias, José Maurício Arruti

This line of research is dedicated to the ethnographic description and comparative analysis of the production of Amerindian socialities, with an emphasis on kinship and gender relations. These issues are approached in an integrated manner, articulating cosmological aspects (such as mythology and concepts of the person), social categories and practices, and language. It also examines gender diversity and its constitutive forms, as well as the meanings attributed to male and female socialities.

Members: Antonio Guerreiro, Artionka Capiberibe, Mauro Almeida, Vanessa Lea

This line is dedicated to studies on how traditional populations know, name, conceive, and manage biodiversity. By operating with the category of 'traditional populations,' this line focuses on ethnographic research with Indigenous peoples, Quilombola, riverine communities, Caiçaras, forest dwellers, etc., who are included in this category precisely due to the low environmental impact of their lifestyles. A theme of increasing urgency in times of climate crisis, the research projects linked to this line focus primarily on Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Heritage, techniques of landscape transformation and habitation, and, more broadly, how ecological knowledge is grounded in specific philosophical principles and management practices. With an interdisciplinary approach, this line is also characterized by dialogues across different scopes with the biological sciences.

Members: Joana Cabral de Oliveira, Mauro Almeida

This line hosts research projects on multi-ethnic and multilingual contexts in Indigenous South America, encompassing: historical perspectives on the formation of such social configurations; ethnographic research on peoples who are part of multi-ethnic polities, with attention to their concepts of personhood and ways of engaging with alterity (human and non-human, Indigenous and non-Indigenous); investigations into the role of multilingualism in the production of multi-ethnic socialities, with a special interest in verbal arts and ritual language; and a comparative approach to the different forms of producing and relating collectives, with particular attention to the phenomena of exchange, ritual, and politics.

Members: Antonio Guerreiro, Artionka Capiberibe, José Maurício Arruti, Marina Pereira Novo

This line is dedicated to the study of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the land. It investigates this relationship from the perspective of their traditional modes of occupation and environmental knowledge as well as considering historical processes of displacement, dispersion, regrouping, and transformations in their modes of production. Furthermore, it analyzes rural-urban migration, and addresses the problems related to the identification and regularization of Indigenous lands. These problems are viewed in their political and legal-administrative dimensions, including situations of 'overlaps' with Conservation Units, large economic enterprises, and the territories of other ethnic groups or traditional populations.

Members: Artionka Capiberibe, José Maurício Arruti, Marina Pereira Novo