How Western Sovereignty Occludes Indigenous Governance: the Guarani and Kaiowa Peoples in Brazil

Abstract

Recent international relations (IR) scholarship has developed a growing awareness of this discipline's colonial roots, prompting a search for decolonising approaches. This article is about indigenous sovereignties and how they have been occluded in the currently globalised European system of states. The method employed is a case study of two of the most impoverished and brutalised Indigenous Peoples in Brazil: the Guarani and the Kaiowa. In an attempt to transit between the world of Westphalia and non-European worlds, it starts by engaging in a conversation with Guarani and Kaiowa knowledge. Then, through a long-term historical analysis, it examines the main colonial processes that caused the occlusion of Guarani and Kaiowa sovereignty. Finally, it provides a broader perspective on how the diffusion of the European model of sovereignty, confronted with Indigenous resistance, has led to the social exclusion of Indigenous Peoples worldwide.

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

“…Authors 26 explain that the European model of sovereignty, confronted with Indigenous resistance, has led to the social exclusion of traditional Indigenous peoples. Brazilian State and society have limited Indigenous sovereignty by imposing a colonial legal order over many Indigenous groups, weakening traditional leaderships and denying the very existence of the colonised as a political body.…”

“…The Guarani and Kaiowa peo-ple in Mato Grosso do Sul configure an extreme case of poverty, exploitation and human rights violations, leading to a humanitarian crisis. Severe land dispossession is followed by high levels of child mortality and malnutrition, alcoholism, insufficient access to water or sanitation, low life expectancy, high suicide rates, and the normalized assassination of Indigenous leaders by hired killers 26 .…”

Alterity: The Reinvention of Peace in International Relations

“…(Cunha, 2002: 7) El discurso científico, representado por las vertientes modernas y coloniales de las RR. II., produce objetos de análisis a su imagen y semejanza (Urt, 2016). En sus formulaciones no se ocupa del ansia de ver el mundo a través de los ojos de los/las otros/otras.…”

Política e Direito Internacional: um olhar interdisciplinar sobre a Amazônia

“…Para grupos tão numerosos quanto os povos Guarani e Kaiowá no Brasil (que contam cerca de 70 mil pessoas), os direitos territoriais têm sido sistematicamente negados com extrema violência dos colonos e a omissão do estado brasileiro (Urt, 2016). Em casos tão bem sucedidos quanto os Sami na Escandinávia, que são frequentemente considerados modelos para os povos indígenas, os analistas têm apontado para o fracasso do exercício da autodeterminação em face das práticas coloniais dos estados (Kuokkanen, 2009).…”