A insustentável leveza do estado: devastação, genocídio, doenças e miséria nas fronteiras contemporâneas da Amazônia, no Maranhão

Abstract

A insustentável leveza do estado: devastação, genocídio, doenças e miséria nas fronteiras contemporâneas da Amazônia, no MaranhãoIstván van Deursen VARGA 1 RESUMOForam discutidas as trajetórias das frentes de expansão e seus impactos ambientais, sociais e étnicos na região denominada Amazônia maranhense. As informações utilizadas resultam de pesquisa bibliográfico-documental e de campo, em que foram colhidos depoimentos de trabalhadores rurais e índios, habitantes da região. Foi demonstrado que, mesmo entre as comunidades Guajajara da Terra Indígena Araribóia (na qual se concentra esta pesquisa), opções distintas de convívio com a sociedade envolvente e com suas frentes de expansão vêm sendo tomadas, acarretando distintos impactos em sua qualidade de vida; também foi demonstrado que as comunidades indígenas mais vulneráveis a estas frentes de expansão são as Awa, as quais se encontram em iminente risco de extinção. Em conclusão, algumas considerações: sobre as medidas a serem tomadas, no âmbito das políticas públicas, diante da rápida devastação atualmente em andamento na região, e da gravidade das condições de vida de seus habitantes; sobre a importância do Maranhão no campo dos estudos sobre as formas de sociabilidade, dominação, violência e resistência no campo, como contraponto às que caracterizaram o chamado "ciclo do cangaço". PALAVRAS-CHAVE:Amazônia maranhense, Devastação, Trabalhadores rurais, Comunidades indígenas. The unbearable lightness of State: devastation, genocide, illnesses and misery in the contemporary frontiers of Amazon, in Maranhão AbStRACtWe discussed the trajectories of the capitalism expansion frontiers, and it environmental, social and ethnic impacts, on the Maranhão Amazon. The cited information result from bibliographic, documental and field research, in which we collected testimonies of rural workers and Indians, living in the region. We demonstrated that, even among Terra Indígena Araribóia's Guajajara communities (in which we concentrated this research), distinct options of conviviality with the surrounding society and its expansion frontiers are being made, carrying distinct impacts at their quality of life; we also demonstrated that the Indian communities most vulnerable to this expansion frontier are the Awa ones, which remain in imminent extinction risk. We conclude with some considerations: about the measures to be taken in the public policies field of action, facing the currently very quick devastation of the region, and the severe life conditions of its inhabitants; about the importance of Maranhão in the study field about peasant's sociability, domination, violence and resistance forms, as a counterpart to those which characterized the so called "cangaço" cycle in Northeastern Brazil.

Tuberculosis in post-contact Native Americans of Brazil: Paleopathological and paleogenetic evidence from the Tenetehara-Guajajara

“…Additionally, 25% MTC infection among just-arrived African slaves revealed TB resulting from European contact in Africa and/or caused by native African strains [17]. The Tenetehara-Guajajara had contact with French, Portuguese, and other ethnic groups during the Brazilian Colonial Period [22,23] as well as with African-born individuals in Maranhão State, the capital of which, São Luís, was an important slave port [24,43]. Historical descriptions reported TB epidemics in Europe during the 16th and 18th centuries [74], coincident with the period of first contact and strong penetration of explorers into Tenetehara-Guajajara territory in the Pindaré-Gurupi River basin region.…”

“…Its main cultural ceremonies were honey and corn festivals, which accompanied the harvest season [21]. They were first encountered by French explorers in 1612, and, in 1616, Portuguese expeditions for gold began a period of war and slavery [22]. In 1653, catechizing of the Tenetehara by the Jesuits initiated the period of coexistence with Europeans [23].…”

Indigenous homicide in Brazil: geospatial mapping and secondary data analysis (2010 to 2014)

“…In the state of Maranhão, in the Northeast of the country, it was noticeable during the professionalization of violence of the 1990s, with an organized market of gun shooters. Large properties landowners contributed to tables of escalating price bands for homicides, respectively, of small farmers, trade unionists, priests, farmers and politicians 25 .…”

Assessing Wildfire Regimes in Indigenous Lands of the Brazilian Savannah-Like Cerrado

“…As a result of this analysis, we classify every date of each year on one of four different seasonal periods: RS, EDS, MDS, or LDS. These indigenous territories have been demarked and regularized since the early 1980s [30,31], and are formed majorly by sandy soils covered with Cerrado vegetation and gallery forests following the streams [32,33]. The Corda River crosses the Porquinhos IL, which shelters more significant forest resources than Kanela IL.…”