June 4, 2022

10:06

Iury Lima – From Cenarium Magazine

VILHENA (RO) – The veto of the President of the Republic Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to the Bill 5.466/2019 that proposed changing the name of the date alluding to the Fight and Resistance of the Original Peoples of Brazil was poorly received by leaders and strengthened a growing discussion: after all, is it ‘Indian’ or ‘indigenous’?

Scholars, specialists and the leaders of traditional communities themselves agree that the term ‘Indian’ is outdated and prejudiced. The term ‘indigenous’, on the other hand, besides being more current, comprehensive and respectful, is much more related to the meaning that comes from Latin: something close to “original people”.

Breaking the stereotype

To the CENARIUM MAGAZINE, the anthropologist of the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi), Lúcia Helena Rangel, said that besides nullifying the plurality of peoples and cultures, the word ‘Indian’ refers to colonial Brazil and represents a stereotypical view.

“To say ‘Indian’ is pejorative. This name comes from the 16th century, when Christopher Columbus thought he was reaching the Indies and called the population here ‘Indians’,” explained the specialist. “Today, we say: Original Peoples, Indigenous Peoples. ‘Indigenous’ means ‘native to that land’, ‘native to that land’,” she continued.

Rangel clarifies that the term ‘indigenous’ is not only used in Brazil, but by anthropology, in general, to refer to the Original Peoples “both from Africa and America” and that they themselves, the traditional peoples, “have been correcting” the nomenclature.

“Anthropologists don’t use the word “Indian” anymore. When they do, it is to show how strong it is, how pejorative it is, how it is synonymous of ‘savage’, of ‘backward’, of ‘cannibal’ (…) of all this negative load that weighed on the indigenous population, mainly, here, in the Brazilian State, because our society is racist”, he also said.

Lúcia Helena, who, besides being an anthropologist and Cimi’s advisor, is also the vice-coordinator of the Socio-environmental Sciences course at the Social Sciences Faculty of the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), stresses that changing ‘Indian’ to ‘indigenous’ is not only respect, but also a demonstration of attention and affection. “These people deserve all our respect. And they also deserve to have their lands demarcated,” he added.

Plurality

André Karipuna, a chief of the Karipuna people in Rondônia, agrees with the anthropology specialist. For him, just as it is more correct to say ‘indigenous’, the day that remembers the Fight and Resistance of the original populations of Brazil should be “Indigenous Peoples’ Day”.

“That is the idea, because ‘Indian Day’ refers to only one people. And, in fact, all of Brazil has Indigenous Peoples,” he said, in an interview with CENARIUM.

Also heard by the report, the Portuguese Language teacher, Cledmar Jeferson Batista, believes that the whole of society should respect the wishes of Indigenous Peoples, even if it is a change of a “simple”, but significant, nomenclature.

A resident of Vilhena, in the coutryside of Rondônia, the educator does not ‘turn a blind eye’ to irregularities and helps civil society to promote better conditions for the traditional populations that he supports and admires so much.

“During the 522 years since the arrival of the Europeans on Brazilian soil, on indigenous lands of peoples who have inhabited this region for more than 10 thousand years, we have been witnessing a process of attempted oppression (…) On this issue of the name, it is the indigenous themselves who have to choose,” he told the CENARIUM report.

For him, the disrespect is a reflection of how prejudiced society still is; a “mistaken vision”, according to him. “What we need is for society to educate itself, to respect, to know, to consider the wishes, the principles, and the values of the indigenous ethnic groups,” he added.

Indigenous people in Brazil

Despite occupying only 13% of the national territory and representing less than 0.5% of the population, the indigenous peoples who still resist are almost 1 million people. They speak about 274 languages, are members of 305 ethnic groups and inhabit, especially, protected territories in the Legal Amazon, according to data from Survival International, an organization that maps traditional communities around the world.

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