Kaingang Children Urban Spaces: Cultural Learning and Indigenous Sustainability in Paraná

Abstract

The text addresses the presence of Kaingang children, along with their families, in the city of Maringá, Paraná, Brazil, for the collection of food, production and sale of handcrafts. It problematizes the reduction of indigenous territories, the urban advancement on traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering areas and new indigenous strategies for the sustainability and sociocultural and linguistic maintenance of those groups, with an emphasis on their children’s education. Through documentary and empirical research, we seek to show that, despite the existence of a plentiful international legislation for the protection of indigenous rights, which was improved from the 1980s onwards, these populations suffer prejudice and discrimination in cities, places where they seek to support their families. In a strategy of resistance and (re)territorialization, cities have become learning spaces for Kaingang indigenous children who, by accompanying their families, are taught to “make a living” and keep their identities and language preserved despite all the exclusion they experience.