The space to be ourselves : ethanol-fuel production and land conflict on a Brazilian frontier
Sullivan, LaShandra P.
Since the early 20th century, national and international movements in capital and ideas have contributed to the radical transformation of the Brazilian countryside. In Mato Grosso do Sul, the Kaioww-Guarani have been gradually crowded onto reservations (through often violent, extralegal means) due to deforestation for cattle ranches and soy plantations. Since the 1970s, land despoliation has intensified with the ongoing expansion of privately owned sugarcane plantations for ethanol fuel production. Kaioww land activists argue that displacement has given rise to problems like starvation and high crime rates. Today, protests for land return and occupation of plantations by Kaioww result in sometimes violent counter-mobilization by plantation owners1. This paper explores how the production and endurance of ethnic boundaries between self-identified Indianss and non-Indianss becomes articulated in territorial terms with important, real-life consequences. In examining ethnographic moments in which meanings of indigeneity and Brazilianess are articulated in often conflicting and contradictory terms, I examine how different political and economic scales contribute to such boundary formation. I query how land emerges as a site for both mapping those social boundaries and resolving the conflicts brought to bear in their production.
Event: International Conference on Global Land Grabbing
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