O rio que vai embora é também o rio que retorna: retomadas indígenas do contexto urbano

Abstract

In the Brazilian Amazonian Indigenous language of Nheengatu, "gapuiar" is a fishing technique that requires waiting for fish to jump out of the water or mud and in order to catch it. This project mobilizes “gapuiar” to propose a new method of articulating Indigenous diasporic social-spatial forms by paying close attention to what is dissolved and maintained within two contexts: urban areas in the colonial cities of Belém and Macapá and traditional rural communities on the surrounding islands. The study focuses specifically on an Indigenous population that has undergone attempts of “assimilation” in the Amazon region in both urban and rural contexts. This discussion of the Indigenous diaspora investigates the “tapuio” racial category, which means an "assimilated" and "tamed" Indigenous person, a term that came from the War of Cabanagem. The research then reviews socio-spatial forms that emerge from community organizing practices of diasporic Indigenous people in urban areas. By recognizing the Indigenous presence in urban contexts through the reformulated practice of gapuiar, this work challenges the dichotomy between the contemporary metropolis and traditional indigenous reservations, offering a new interpretation of how cities are formed that challenges recurring attempts of minoritization and ethnogenocide. The study ultimately concludes that although Indigenous people live outside registered Indigenous lands, the socio-spatial forms of Indigenous peoples in urban areas display forms of organization unique to urbanized areas that reflect continuity with their pre-colonial communal formation.