PARESI (BRAZIL) CULTURAL HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY

Flavia Prado Moi Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais, (NEPAN/Unicamp)

Walter Fagundes Morales Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Arqueológicas da Bahía, (NEPAB/UESC)

Introduction

In the Brazilian context, the dizzying growth of archeological investigations related to heritage preservation legislation is a consequence of the democratization of the country and the adoption of public policy that fosters citizen participation in the management of their own cultural heritage. This growth has created a forum for discussion about archeological and patrimonial questions and their relationship to the wider realm of the economy, culture, politics, ethics, and government as well as to social, educational and management questions. There has also been a gradual growth in the promotion of the rights of indigenous people to make and take part in decisions about the treatment, interpretation and management of their sites and objects (Funari 1999, 2001, 2004; Ascherson 2000; Funari et al. 2005). The investigation that we have carried out with the Paresi, an indigenous group located in Chapada dos Parecis (Mato Grosso, Brazil), emerged from the growing concern for the public components of archeology (i.e., financial planning, social issues, and politics related to the regulatory practices in a variety of contexts). The investigation seeks to discover and discuss the political, socio- cultural and economic developments since the 1990s through the lens of environmental impact studies before the implantation of the Small Hydroelectric Centers (PCHs) in various rivers in the region. Over the course of our fieldwork, 1

1 Flavia Prado Moi coordinated the fieldwork for the cultural heritage in the municipalities located ubicados in the area of influence of the PCHs Sacre 1, Sacre 2 and another 11 in the channel of the Juruena River. In the

we note that some technical aspects of these studies are related to an emerging awareness of ethnic identity and preservation and archeological patrimony management. As a result, with the knowledge of a larger context of discussion that extended beyond the legal requirements of the environmental licensing process, we began an investigation to help equip programs that provide parameters to strengthen the application of public politics in this area. Our goal was to carry out a case study to aid the assessment, management and preservation of the archeological patrimony with the effective participation of the indigenous groups and ensure that the results were employed in the service of these communities. This context inspired the doctoral investigation2 Arqueologia pública em território paresi: uma análise dos desdobramentos políticos, socioculturais e econômicos decorrentes das pesquisas arqueológicas (Moi 2006), which seeks to identify the strategies of investigative archeological programs in the area (theories, methods, discoveries, and dissemination of results); the social, political and economic factors of these projects, and the extent of the reciprocal relationship established between participants and the ethnic Paresi, in a critical and political dimension, with the goal of amplifying the realm of discussion about the rights and duties of the Paresi and about their cultural environment. The investigation discusses the uses and ideological applications that the Paresi could make use of (or not) with the results of the archeological works and the epistemological questions that address social identities and the political nature of the science. The information produced, used and/or adopted by the local populations permits the investigators to expand the range and the results of their work and increase the level of interest and identification with respect to the archeological heritage, increasing its estimation and preservation.

Indigenous emancipation, economic development and sustainability

area influenced by these projects were the Enawenê-nawê, Nambikwara and Paresi groups, directly affected by the construction of the PCH Sacre 2, whose introduction dependended on making use of a waterfall that boardered the village Sacre 2, Terra Indígena Utiariti. Walter Fagundes Morales coordinated the archeological fieldwork of these PCHs (Documento Antropología e Arqueologia 2001a, 2001b, 2003). 2 Investigation being carried out in NEPAM/UNICAMP under the leadership of Pedro Paulo de Abreu Funari of NEE/Arqueologia Pública da Unicamp.

The twentieth century bore witness to a large economic boom closely related to marked demographic growth, principally in the poorest countries, which produced environmental consequences such as pollution and ecological deterioration; furthermore, the internet created a swift, intense and rapid influx in information transmission. The indiscriminate appropriation of resources on a worldwide scale in the postwar era fostered the emergence of social protest movements in different capitalist countries at the beginning of the 1960s: counterculture, anti-racism and student movements rejecting militarism, industrialism, and dominant colonialism and critical of a society of consumerism (Hobsbawm 1995). Though the criticism of these movements was predominantly cultural and targeted at the American lifestyle, they questioned what it was being done to the world and the way natural resources were being appropriated and exhausted (Goudie 1990; Arbix et al. 2002). As time passed, the subject of ecology escaped from the limited sphere of specialist and small groups and reached the masses, above all, identified as the root of the disasters caused by oil freighters and the serious accidents that involved nuclear reactors and large-scale toxic contamination as was the case for Three-Mile Island (United States, 1979)), Bhopal (India, 1984), Seveso (Italy, 1976) and Chernobyl (Ukraine, 1986). News of these accidents, spread by the velocity and power of information, the media, and the activity of environmental NGOs with a global mission (like Greenpeace and WWF), extended beyond the local level and serving to ferment a globalized environmental conscience (Garrard 2006). With the intensification of environmental problems and the recognition that they could not be regarded as having only a localized impact but rather that their consequences affect the whole world (although with varying intensity and in different ways), numerous new international players emerged. In the search of sustainable forms of development, traditional social groups, ethnic minorities, religious groups, NGOs and representatives of developing countries (previously knows as the Third World) began to be heard in the international arena (Acselrad 2004). Direct evidence of this new trend include when the United Nations declared 1995-2004 the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People and in 2002 created the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Through these avenues, various new ethnic groups have gained ground, especially those that occupy territories that environmentalists consider natural preserves, and apply traditional knowledge that can better the future of humanity; others have benefited through the recognition of their historical fight against environmental degradation. Furthermore, globalization has both permitted and stimulated the organization of indigenous people; many of them have obtained international financing and have gone on to participate in international networks with other groups, and thus achieve greater impact and political reach than before. In Brazil, the indigenous cause has also succeeded in making it to the international arena, evolving from a situation of complete guardianship in the 1960s to a phase of assemblies (1870s) and interethnic unions (1980s), to finally establishing interethnic political, social and economic projects in the last decade (Neves 2003). The most important triumphs for the Brazilian indigenous movement occurred in the 1980s with the end of the military regime, the indigenous groups’ mobilization and an advantageous political climate. In 1988 the actual constitution was enacted and recognized the right to cultural difference; so various ethnic groups intensified the fight for the demarcation and recognition of their lands. The new federal constitution has modified the judicial normative framework addressing environmental and indigenous questions. Chapter II, Article 22, indicated that the State would take jurisdiction over legislation on themes related to the indigenous groups and Article 24 gives the Union jurisdiction, concurrently with the State and the Federal District, the power to legislate on environmental questions. Chapter VI, Article 225, establishes that it is incumbent upon legislators to require environmental impact studies for projects or activities that can harm the environment (Paragraph 1, IV). Chapter VIII, Article 231, recognizes the indigenous people, their social organization, customs, languages, traditions and original rights to the lands they traditionally occupied, requiring the Union to demarcate them, protect them, respect them and enforce the respect of

others. And Article 232 says that the indigenous people and their organizations are legitimate parts of the work in defending their rights and interests. The majority of the indigenous people live in environmental preserves (Gray et al. 1998 and Vicenzo 2003). Since in many of these areas the natural resources have been better conserved3, a strong parallelism was established between the environmental and indigenous question (Toledo 1992, Berkes et al. 1993), which have been treated as inseparable issues in the last four decades (Reichel- Dolmatoff 1976; Alarcón-Cháires 2006). This situation provoked the regular use of the concept of sustainability in an environmental arena and multicultural emancipator in the indigenous realm, which led to the emergence of intrinsically related semantic linkages between nature and human populations under the term “people of the jungle” (povos da floresta). Along with the growing articulation of the connection between indigenous politics and the perspective of sustainable development, the pressure has increased on countries that still control a significant part of their natural reserves and that opted for reproducing the economic model of developed countries (PNUD 2004), like Colombia (Board and Mejía 2006), Argentina (Gordillo and Leguizamón 2002) and Brazil. Nevertheless, the new global necessities, which are not a new phenomenon (Harvey 1985, 1989, 1996), accelerated the investments in the production of electric energy and for the promotion of extraction industries (petroleum, gas, mineral and wood) increasing the impact on the environment and threatening the survival of various indigenous groups that occupy territories with valuable natural resources. These alterations have been reflected in the groups that have gained growing autonomy in the management of the resources at their disposition in the political, social, economic and environmental arena. The majority of the Brazilian indigenous groups want to maintain (or gain) differentiated status as an ethnic group with their own languages and customs, within and outside their reserves, and, at the same time, profit from consumer profits and the benefits of the society

3Vicenzo (2003) documented that the Brazilian Tierras Indígenas show a greater degree of nature conservation than the Unidades de Conserviación.

around them. Nevertheless, the increased involvement of indigenous groups in the world of the “white man” has resulted in confrontations with urban and rural segments of society and given rise to the phrase “a lot of land for few indigenous people” and has begun and been replaced (by the media, the political lobbyists, and the large corporations) by the sentence “there aren’t indigenous people anymore.” Symptomatically, after a series of victories and a considerable improvement in the health conditions of diverse ethnic groups (which has been reflected in their demographic expansion) since the 1990s, a decrease in the force and the sympathy of various sectors of Brazilian society for the indigenous cause began. Among the different reasons that brought about the change is the succession of images presented by the media of indigenous people as owners of cars and airplanes as a result of the exploration or lease of their reserves’ natural resources. 2006 was marked by headlines announcing conflicts created by indigenous communities that demanded financial compensation for the injury caused by large economic groups that occupied their territories of use and circulation. Among the most notable conflicts was the invasion of the largest open- pit iron mill in the world4 by the Xikrin indigenous group; this ethnic group demanded a revenue increase of 9 millions of reais annually (about 4.5 million dollars, according to the exchange rate in March 2007) they received from the CVRD as compensation for the mineral exploration in their territory5. Another revealing event was the invasion of lands by the company Aracruz Celulose, to the north of Estado Espírito Santo, by the Tupinquins and the Guarani, who successfully demanded the return of 11 thousand of the 250 thousand hectares farmed by the company6; the company recommended that the indigenous groups sign a document that guaranteed that the demarcated land would not be registered as traditional indigenous territory but rather as a indigenous reserve donated by the company and that before taking definite possession the company

4 In the mineral province of Carajás (Pará) of the Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD). 5 htpp://cartamaior.uol.com.br. 6 http://aracruz.com.br.

reserved the right to all the existing improvements7. A third conflict involved an archeological team and was a telling example of the new situations in which Brazilian archeologists found themselves implicated. Fourteen ethnic groups of Parque Indígena do Xingú (PIX) invaded, halted the projects and contested the anthropological and archeological investigations that they were conducting as part of environmental studies for the construction of the PCH Paranatinga II (in the Culuene River, one of the sources of the Xingu River), alleging that they would be building in the known sacred site of Sagihenhu, where the first ritual of kuarup from the high Xinguana took place (Agostinho 1974). The archeologist that organized the multidisciplinary team and was hired by the construction company (Paranatinga Energética SA) disagreed and claimed that the sacred site was seven kilometers below the outlet of the PCH, and therefore safe from any harm8. This type of invasion and stoppage sullied the image of the indigenous groups in the eyes of Brazilian society because in their imagination, in the media and in political circles, the belief persisted that the indigenous groups should keep living in isolation, receiving trifles, wearing feathers in their hair and paint on their bodies and should wait for the whites to resolve their needs and defend them in a situation of eternal guardianship. That is, although there is a growing ethnic indigenous emancipation as they become independent social agents, the velocity of events of the last years created a disconnect between the maturity of the ethnic groups and the way they were perceived by Brazilian society. To attempt to keep up with the changes that occur in the indigenous groups, a series of activities, projects, short courses and training have been carried out by NGOs, universities and religious institutions, and government organizations, for example the Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI), etc. Many of these activities share a common goal of supporting indigenous groups in their search for autonomy and to help them gain economic independence, which can be achieved through sustainable exploration of the richness that exist in their lands.

7 Fórum de Entidades Nacionais de Direitos Humanos (http: www.direitos.org.br). 8 The discussion about this case can be found at the website of Instituto Socioambiental (htpp//:www.socioambiental.org) and of Sociedade de Arqueología Brasileira (http//:www.sabnet.com.br).

These activities demonstrate the same definition of culture that supposedly is constantly changing and adapting to our new everyday realities. These advances don’t occur at the same pace or in the same way in the various Brazilian indigenous groups because there are significant differences in political participation (in demographic terms) and in the resources and riches that exist in the indigenous territories, which increase or decrease their ability to interact with the “world of the white man”. In Brazil, unknown or isolated indigenous groups still exist. Some ethnic groups have simple and modest plans to raise chickens or create communal gardens that allow for survival. The ethnic groups vary widely, from those that have the capacity to organize the election of indigenous politicians to those who plan the felling of the forest for the cultivation of soy, permit the extraction of wood, or alter the course of water for the extraction of precious metals within their reserves, which is prohibited by Brazilian law. The contact with the white man and the inclusion of these groups in the Brazilian economy brings them each time closer to the growth of desires and needs that, with difficulty, they satisfy9. The boundary between the dispensable and the indispensible is tenuous and subjective and in the ends relates to the possibility of acquiring products. The industrialized products obtained through these monetary resources or in the form of direct donations came to be considered indispensible to the daily life of the communities. For example, a motor vehicle comes with costs because it requires fuel, spare parts, repairs, drivers, and tax payments. These unexpected situations have caused an increasingly common phenomenon; indigenous groups want to profit from the richness of their lands, and therefore, to be able to consume the desired products. Various Brazilian indigenous societies want to obtain consumer goods and, at the same time, maintain their differentiated status as ethnic groups with their own languages and customs, within and outside of their reserves.

9 As Marshall Sahlins said (1978:8) "the needs can be ‘easily satisfied’ by either producing a lot or wanting little”.

The processes of political and economic emancipation of indigenous groups ended up creating a divergence between their interests and the way that the surrounding society perceived them; about the understanding of their needs for territory, the financial support of the federal government, the preservation of the areas that they occupy and the cultural changes resulting from the need to use their economic resources to achieve a better quality of life. Although the indigenous groups are recognized as protectors of the jungle, more and more native groups (like the Paresi, Irantxe and Nanbikwara, that live in the Mato Grosso Province, or the Kadiwéu, in Mato Grosso do Sul) use their lands for financial profit, disrupting the historic process of preservation of their territories from the exploration and capitalist gain. Although the justification for large tracts of lands earmarked for the indigenous groups rested heavily on the idea of an environmental preserve, the actual use of some of these lands by many indigenous groups has generated a negative and contradictory image that has been cleverly used by sectors that seek to stop the demarcation or the upkeep of the current limits of indigenous lands. The indigenous groups that seek to maintain their ethnic identities and cultural differences and preserve certain characteristics that they consider important face a dilemma. How to reconcile the traditional needs and physical demands of consumption and with the new lifestyle made possible by economic opportunities offered by the environmental conservation community? One of the Paresi’s answers to these questions is raised by the new international economic politics vision regards the indigenous culture as potential financial resource (Judie 2004). In June of 2005, the Paresi-Haliti indigenous association of the Seringal village, along with the government of Estado de Mato Grosse and the municipal town council of Campo Novo de Parecis, scheduled the State Seminar on Ecotourism in Indigenous Lands, concurrently with the Fifth Festival of Indigenous Culture and Games10, in the frame of an ecotourism project underway since the 1990s. Among the themes of the seminary (indigenous

10 Among the ethnicities that attended were representatives of the Paresi, Irantxe, Mynky, Bororo, Cinta-larga, Rikbaktsa, Arara, Nambikwara and Umutina competing in the traditional indigenous games: jikunahati (head soccer), jakatiye (bow and arrow), jitsoti (diving), temati (running) and nolokakakwati (tug of war). diversity, Paresi body painting and indigenous architecture) its economical sustainability, including ecotourism, was also discussed. In the seminar program a space was reserved to present the archeological investigations in the region and the unedited information of the environmental impact suits underway. Walter Fagundes Morales, who traveled to Mato Grosso to present the paper Primeira mostra de arqueología haliti was attacked by one of the Paresi leaders, who lived in the town Sacre 2, the most benefited (or injured, in his point of view) by the installation of the PHC Sacre 2, to request that he not carry out the project because it could add to the existing problems in Paresi society. The goal of these events goes beyond disseminating indigenous culture and evaluating the athletic skill of the competitors. The seminar sought to create conditions to structure cultural tourism in Paresi territory. One of the activities supported the idea of constructing a village according to the traditional model, exclusively reserved for Brazilian and foreign tourists. The intention was to organize a “tourist village” in which the visitors would pay indigenous guides to tour the trails of the forest and watch animals and birds, dive in the crystal waters of the rivers and enjoy the fantastic waterfalls of the region. Furthermore, they intend to increase artisanal production to sell in the village both because it would provide a source of income and for its cultural heritage value. Due to conflicts among indigenous leaders about the subject and for lack of adequate infrastructure, these activities still have not reaches the scope desired by the Paresi. The visits are still sporadic, unstructured and with little intensity and payoff. Still Paresi youth are training little by little for this work and taking classes in environmental education with the eventual goal of developing consistent and sustainable projects.

A case study: the Paresi of Chapada

The Paresi, an indigenous Brazilian group that self-define as Halití (people of the town), speak a language classified by some linguists as pertaining to the Aruák family and that they don’t maintain any genetic relation with any other

linguistic root (Montserrat 1994). For Greg Urban (1992) the Paresi language would be part of the branching of the Aruák family, the Maipure, and suggests a long chronology of some 3000 years. The Paresi, who have been very studied from an anthropological point of view (Costa 1985; Pivetta and Freire 1993; Filho 1994, 1996; Costa 2002), are divided into 4 distinct subgroups (Kazíiniti, Waimaré, Warére and Káwali) that formerly inhabited territories with well-defined borders within a vast high plain that stretched from the headwaters of the Arinos rivers and Paraguay to the headwaters of the Guaporé and Juruena rivers, in the center west of Estado de Mato Grosso. The written registers of Paresi presence in the area traces back to the XVIII century (Badariotti 1898; Silva 1993; Lévi-Strauss 1996); nevertheless, though the Paresi occupied this vast territory since the days of the European colonization, now they are now found living on politically defined zones (that are called indigenous lands) with a different and reduced size and environmental diversity. According to the data provided by Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI) de Cuiabá, now the Paresi are found divided into 11 different and non-contiguous TIs11 and that are located in Chapada: TI Utiariti, TI Estação Paresi, TI Estivadinho, TI Figueiras, TI Juininha, TI Paresi, TI Ponte de Pedra, TI Rio Formoso, TI Tirecatinga, TI Uirapurú (Capitão Marco) and TI Umutina. The Paresi occupy pieces of their traditional territory including their identification of the site of Stone Bridge, the place of their myth of origin, where the world began, located 70 kilometers from Campo Novo dos Parecis12.

A Chronology of Contact13

11 Barros (2002) said that there is a population of about 1273 people. The majority is bilingual: they speak Portuguese and their native tongue with fluencia that varies according to age and the degree of individual involvement in the the spheres of the society around them (Filho 1996). 12 Located 384 kilometers from Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso, the municipality of Campo Novo dos Parecis occupies an área of 9.936 km²; 30% of the territory is part of indigenous lands. According to the municipal cultural census, in 2000 there were 14.620 urban inhabitants y 2909 rural. The region, known as a "national production granery", has shown a high growth rate in population taht reaches 6.61% each year. 13 The historical information that is presented summarizes the field data and the documantation carried out by the autors in the environmental licencing study in the region of the basins of the Sacre, Juruena, Sangue and Ponte de Pedra Rivers, in the Estado de Mato Grosso, from the end of the 1990s (Morales 1998; Moi and Morales 2003; Morales and Moi 2001, 2003).

Throughout time the traditional Paresi territory has born witness to the passage of various human groups. From historical times, the presence has been felt of the Nambikwara and Irántxe, of the Comissão Constructora da Linha Telegráphica Estratégica de Mato Grosso ao Amazonas, of religious groups (Abreu 1988; Silva 1993; Filho 1996; Lévi-Strauss 1996) and, recently, of great single-crop growing landowners. The recent history of occupation included expanding fronts that changed the history of the region (with an inevitable impact on indigenous groups), initially through the strategic activities of the Comissão Constructora da Linha Telegráphica Estratégica de Mato Grosso ao Amazonas and, after, through industrialized agriculture (which has injected a significant amount of resources into the region, evidenced by the various infrastructure projects, but that has produced a negative ecological impact). The presence of the Comissão Constructora da Linha Telegráphica Estratégica de Mato Grosso ao Amazonas in the region dates from 1907, when it was led by Colonel Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon who, motivated by positivist ideals (Diacon 2006), named the commission that carried his name (Comissão Rondon); its objective was to install a telegraph line that connected the city of Cuiabá to Santo Antonio de Madeira the starting point for the construction of the railroad Madeira-Mamoré, in Rondônia. The strategic objective was a definitive occupation of the territories. The activities carried out to get to know the region were the compilation of geographic, forest and mineral assessments and contact with the indigenous populations (Missão Rondon 1946). In 1914 a scientific expedition coordinated by Theodore Roosevelt, the former president of the United States, partnered with The Comissão Rondon in Mato Grosso14. The Comissão Rondon began a new chapter in the history of contact with indigenous groups in Mato Grosso so that the indigenous people would permanently be found under its care. The Paresi people were known as the indigenous group most directly involved in the installation and maintenance of the telegraphic lines (Roberto 1987:3-4). Families, even whole Paresi villages, migrated drawn by the telegraph

14 The official title of this expedition was given by the Brazilian government: Expedição Científica Roosevelt- Rondon (Roosevelt 1976:15-17).

lines; however, this contact brought successive epidemics and a drastic demographic decline. Compounding the problem of diseases were invasions of rubber growers and attacks from enemy tribes, which forces the Paresi survivors to seek out more and more protection and assistance from Rondon in the telegraph stations that crossed their territory (Rondon 1946). Due to the epidemics, many orphans grew up dependent on the continuance of the telegraphs (Roberto 1987:4). Lévi-Strauss (1996:246), who traversed the region in the 1930s, said that:

“This ignorance, combined with the narrations of the still recent incursions into the American Far-West and of the subsequent Gold Rush, inspired crazy hopes in the population of Mato Grosso and, even in people on the coast. After Rondon’s men put in the telegraph wires, a wave of immigrants would invade territories to exploit its unprecedented resources, to build a Brazilian Chicago. A harsh reality awaited: as with the initial impression of the Northeast region, where Euclides da Cunha painted a picture of a cursed Brazilian land in “Os sertões”, the mountain range of the North (named “serra do Norte”) would reveal itself to be a half-desert-like savannah and one of the most desolate regions of the continent. Furthermore, the birth of radiotelegraphy in 1922 coincided with the conclusion of the telegraph line, thereby making telegraph communication obsolete, relegating it the status of an archaeological relic of a scientific innovation that became out-dated just in time for its début. It saw its one hour of glory, in 1924, when the rebellion of São Paulo against the federal government isolated the government from the interior. By the telegraph, Rio de Janeiro could communicate with Cuiabá, through Belém and Manaus. Shortly after the decline began: the scores of eager people that fought for a job with the telegraph service dispersed or remained and were forgotten. When I arrived there, many years had passed since they had received any supplies. Nobody dared to close down the line, but nobody was interested in using it, either. The poles were falling down, the wire was left to rust. Meanwhile, the last survivors remained at their posts, without the courage or the means to leave it, they were extinguished slowly, decimated by illness, hunger and solitude15”.

As a result of the contact with national society’s expanding fronts the Paresi and their Nanbikwara neighbors also suffered due to the presence of a Jesuit mission, the congregation of the sisters of Paulina, whose objective was to convert them to Christianity. To carry out their mission, this congregation joined with the Prelazia de Diamantino and implanted a nucleus of missionaries to convert the

15 Translated by the authors.

indigenous people that lived close to the other important rivers in this region, the Juruena (Costa 2002). In about 1941, Carlos Luis Freitas (sf: 19), a Portuguese cleric who helped in the construction of this nucleus, recounted the difficult times for missionaries in his work Minhas memórias:

“There were two houses of caboclos (people of mixed Amerindian and European heritage) with a little clay and thatch roof. In one of the houses lived four nuns and in the other, four monks: two missionary communities that sacrificed for a love of other souls. Our hut had a small living room that serves as a dining room and four small rooms. We could hang our nets, as well as a little table and, two boxes of kerosene for a shelf. Each compartment had a half-meter square window.”

The mission operated until 1945; after it transferred to the Utiariti Falls. The new site was more accessible to the roads left by the Comissão Rondon and was far from the malaria that devastated the region. A year after the jump to the Utiariti, it became an educational center under the direction of the Missão Anchieta, which applied the boarding school model to the indigenous community. The catechism of the period prohibited the indigenous people who lived in the mission (Irantxe, Paresi and Nambikwara) from speaking their native language and living according to their customs (Price 1976a, 1976b, 1983; Pivetta and Freire 1993; Filho 1996). Luiz Campos Nambikwara, who studied in the mission and is now a professor in the village of the Utiariti, in where the ruins of the mission are located, wrote his impressions:

“In a way it was even good, wasn’t it? People learned many things. But in a way it was not good at all. Because it took away many people, the culture. for example, the language of the people, the mother tongue, they did not teach. They did not teach it at all; speaking it was forbidden. One could not speak one’s own language. It was forbidden to do so, to conduct rituals..."16.

Nevertheless, the treatment of indigenous populations of Latin America changed drastically after the Second Vatican Council (1966); the perspective of the colonizer was abandoned and the possibility of ideological and cultural pluralism became accepted. In accordance with the new directives of the Catholic

16 Interview granted to Flavia Prado Moi and Walter Fagundes Morales in Utiariti in February of 2003.

Church, the mission allowed indigenous communities to practice their native languages. In 1968 the boarding schools were eliminated and the “village” populations returned to their communities of origin:

"They have left. The priests have gone. They have left. I mean, at that time, there were already farmers coming. The farmers were already arriving. Here, in the Utiariti. Then, the farmers were already arriving. And the priests were worried, weren’t they? Because the Indians have to pass through everything here, and then they are left without any land to live on. Without a village, aren’t they? One didn’t know where the village was anymore. The farmers wanted to take over, then the priests scattered them again. They were giving out land... looking for us with FUNAI by their side. A small parcel of land for each tribe to build its own village."17.

The advance of the surrounding society into the lands formerly occupied by indigenous groups produced a marked demographic decline in the indigenous populations and shrunk their area of circulation. As a direct result of these fronts of expansion, the territories of these groups were reduced, and today are circumscribed to the definite limits of official indigenous lands. In a certain way, more fortunate than their Nambikwara neighbors, the Paresi succeeded, at least, in maintaining parcels of their traditional territories of occupation, gathering and use of natural resources. Part of the Nambikwara group was separated from their traditional territory and today occupy areas that they and the Paresi recognize as Paresi territory:

" The Nambikwara did not live here. They were from Juruena and the people who lived here were the Paresi. There was a village already here before the priests and their mission arrived here. I don’t remember now what the village had been called before it was called Utiariti. There was a name, of course. In the language, I don’t know what it was... On the other side of the Nambikwaras, it was on the other side of the Juruena. It was Nambikwara too, but also another, another, another, how do you say? They are Nambikwara, but they are… They belong to another group, don’t they? These Nambikwaras here, the ones that live here, they are called Wakalitesu. And these ones that live over there are called Halotesu. They speak the same language, don’t they?"18.

17 Luiz Campos Nambikwara, interview by Flavia Prado Moi and Walter Fagundes Morales, Utiariti (Februrary of 2003). 18 Luiz Campos Nambikwara, interview by Flavia Prado Moi and Édison Rodríguez, Utiariti (February of 2003).

The systematic process of occupation of the region began at the end of the 1960s; the fronts of agricultural expansion by the national society initiated the territorial conflicts between landowners and indigenous people. In this period the OPAN19 was created and it began the organization of work done by FUNAI in the region. In the 1980s the gradual (and not always peaceful) stabilization of the new agricultural situation occurred; in this time period various indigenous lands were delimited and were reserved, confirmed or put under interdiction for the indigenous groups. Thereby the large ranches and estates came to have defined borders. In the 1990s the Paresi saw the beginning of various energy projects (they were called small hydroelectric centers) in the rivers of their territory. The installation of these PCHs was a result of State investments in basic infrastructure to create the necessary conditions for national and multinational capital. Small communities and surrounding areas became proto-urban or urban. One of the first works of energy production developed in the region at the end of the 1980s came to a discouraging end and had a negative impact in various spheres. The problem had to do with the construction of the PCH Ponte de Pedra (Bridge of Stone) that was begun and never finished. In 2003 the federal courts stalled the completion of the work and the Elma Eletricidade de Mato Grosso Company, the Fundação Estadual do Meio Ambiente (FEMA), the FUNAI, ANEEL (Agência Nacional de Energía Elétrica) and the Paresi Halitinã and Wáimare associations were held responsible for having initiated the construction of a PCH in indigenous Paresi territory. The decision of the court canceled the contract of concession granted by the ANEEL, the licensing done by FEMA and the contracts made by the associations. The area where they planned to construct the PCH was an ancient claim of the Paresi people, considered of great importance for their reproduction and physical and cultural survival. The Procuradoria da República required two additional anthropological studies in the region. These studies20 prove that a Paresi village existed in Stone Bridge until the arrival of Rondon; after this period

19 Operação Amazônia Nativa, an NGO that promotes projects of support and solidarity with the indigenous communities in the center-west and north of Brazil (http://www.opan.org.br). 20 Carried out by the anthropologist Fátima Roberto Machado (Universidad Federal de Mato Grosso). the indigenous people were uprooted from the site but continued making periodic visits. The Ministério Público Federal heeded the report and the federal judge recognized the importance of the area for the Paresi and suspended the project. FEMA protested against the judicial decision, won, and maintained its license with the argument that they were working on private property. FUNAI protested against the new decision, arguing that they had already formed a working group to identify and define the territory and recognize it as an indigenous area. The judge ordered the concession agreements nullified and required FUNAI to complete the demarcation of the lands within a year; if the company began the construction of the projects it would pay a daily fine. This fact has not discouraged the consortium of electric energy generators who are interested in exploiting the potential of the rivers in the region. The state of Mato Grosso, considered a “granary” of food products and a rich producer of energy and mineral resources, continues to invest in infrastructure for the transport of their products (Prefeitura de Campo Novo do Parecis 2002). The changes in their economic base are accompanied by changes in the political and cultural sphere: in the political arena the alliance between modern capitalism and the traditional oligarchy resulted in the vigorous renewal of the abandoned “political of the colonels” and in the cultural sphere, the incorporation of national norms in the heart of the local culture (Secchi 1995). Although the alterations in the model of occupation did little to change the adverse reality of the indigenous people, little by little the Paresi people have made themselves active players in determining their own destinies and have been called to give their opinions on the process of environmental licensing for the works that are implemented in their territory (a right guaranteed by the Constitution); besides negotiating among themselves (many times the conflicting opinions provoke internal schisms) they also negotiate with external subjects. Similar to the events in the PCH Ponte de Pedra when the Halitinã y Wáimare associations negotiated the construction of the work, the inhabitants of Sacre 2 had a favorable attitude towards the construction of a PCH in a river that formed the border of their territory because in their opinion, the royalties generated from the electricity of the hydroelectric plant are important for the survival and development of their community. Although there is consent among some Paresi leaders for the realization of the project, they must follow Brazilian law. They must go through the environmental licensing processes to guaranty that the negative impact caused to the environment is less than the potential benefits. For the Paresi, who are not familiar with the archeological procedure, the investigation carried out seemed like a political reaffirmation and, perhaps, a way for economic gain, cultural respect and reaffirm their territorial rights.

Territory, myth and memory

The situation of imposed contact and the Paresi produces various socio- cultural and economic impacts in their society but did not eliminate their culture; instead, new norms and rules were incorporated. Over three centuries the Paresi reformulated, transformed and adapted their cultural standards so that their cultural base adapted to the new contexts; they thereby maintained characteristics that were (or are) unique. The internal characteristics of ancient cultural models and symbols were adapted to the new realities, absorbing new meanings (Carneiro da Cunha 1985, 1986). While some values were maintained others were transformed or were substituted, without eliminating a common identity or cultural continuity over the long term in the Chapada dos Parecis (Balandier 1963; Shennan 1994, 2000; Thomas 1996). The contact between cultural and ethnic standards and social conditions, including distinct acts of domination, resistance and assimilation ended up generating articulations and solutions to live with the imposed necessities. Some people, individually or in groups, were active agents in the elaboration of a social order and not simply passive recipients of new conditions. The identity of the group is variable; it depends on the way in which the individuals recognize themselves and others from formulated categories stemming from an origin or from common cultural elements. This process creates the so-called ethnic groups

that have the power to define who pertains to their group and who does not (Barth 1969). The strategy of the Paresi to actively seek out better conditions could be part of the affirmation or negation of their ethnic origin. In some historical moments, such as in the remote period of the just wars (Perrone-Moisés 1992), to be “pleasant” and of “good character” was the easiest road to survival. The Nambikwara, their neighbors and their ancestral enemies “opted” for another road and were involved in constant fights with the expanding colonial fronts, considered as allies of the Paresi. At the end of this true “proof of resistance”, after so many mix-ups, obstacles and a drastic demographic decline, the ethnic Paresi have succeeded in maintaining their language and some of their fundamental institutions. How was it possible? How did they succeed in defending their common values, with more determination each time, without resorting to violence when faced with a surrounding society that sought to annihilate or integrate them? Among many factors that have led to their physical and cultural survival, one of the most important was the chance to establish “points of contact” that were represented by palpable elements (their territory and the landmarks that exist in the countryside) to integrate the generations and establish a sense of belonging and community unity (Machado 2002). These “points of contact” were the result of a body of historical, social and cultural events that the oral tradition managed to maintain in a coherent form over a long period of time and that permitted individuals and collective to adopt common elements that were transformed into the substratum of their ethnicity (that could have incorporated other groups that were previously ethnically distinct) when faced with strange and adverse agents and situations. Their point of departure was the fact that the Paresi had occupied the region since long ago; the “point of contact” most known from this occupation is their myth of origin from the north of Stone Bridge:

“In the myth of origin of the Halití people, recorded at the beginning of the century by the German anthropologist Max Schmidt21 a group of siblings emerged

21 See: Schmidt, M. "Os aruaques. Uma contribuição ao estudo da difusão cultural." Translation of the original in German: "Die Aruaken: Ein Beitrag zum problem der Kulturver-beitrung. Studien zur Ethnologie und

from inside the earth, sprouting from cracks and holes of the rocks in the Sakuriu wiña River, which the Imóti, the non-indians, the “civilized people” called Stone Bride or Sucuruína, a tributary of the Arinos. As they emerged from he rocks the Halití discovered the world and all its rivers, its birds, the trees that existed but had not yet been named. Wazáre, the eldest’s of the siblings, guided the others to the exit, installing each in his own territory (Machado 2002).

For the Paresi, the world began in this location, les than 70 kilometers from Utiariti; physical evidence that testifies to this fact was found: the Bridge and House of Stone. Furthermore, one of the telegraph stations set up by Rondon was installed here, where the indigenous people gathered in search of protection at the beginning of the twentieth century. As Damião, a 100 year-old Paresi who lived in Sacre II until his death in 2006 and guide of Rondon, said: “The Stone Bridge is the proof that we were here, in this land, since the beginning of the world and we were Paresi” 22. The myth of Stone Bridge passes from generation to generation, conferring on them a sense of continuation and integration. On this theme Giddens (1990:37-38) noted:

“In the traditional societies the past is venerated and the symbols are valued because they contain and perpetuate the experience of generations. Tradition is a way of fighting with time and space, establishing whatever particular activity or experience in the continuity of the past, present and future, which are, in turn, structured for recurring social practices”.

The sum of these palatable elements, which are found in the landscape and oral tradition, fosters a feeling of belonging and union that decreases the distance and the differences among individuals who, in other situations, could be enemies. That is to say, it succeeds in unifying the descendents of distinct subgroups such as the Kaxiniti, Waimaré, Kawáli, Waréré and Kozarini. To these appropriations of images, other “points of contact” are added. As they have inhabited the region since pre-colonial times, an ethno-toponymic knowledge of their ancient territory (areas of circulation, borders, waterways, hills, paths, geographic accidents, abandoned villages) exists that is utilized to justify their claim over the territory and the territory of every subgroup within it (Souza

Soziologie." Herausgeben von Vierkandt, Heft 1. Leipzig, 1917. Copy available in the Biblioteca del PPGAS del Museu Nacional, UFRJ, RJ. 22 Interview granted to Flavia Prado Moi and Édison Rodrigues in Sacre 2 in 2003.

1997:31). This explains why the villages, including the youngest, are built next to large waterfalls, reappearing on sites of previous villages; this fact was proved through archeological investigations conducted in the area23:

“The villages have their definitive localization within a territory that has a mythical significance. As I mentioned before, Wazáre, the hero of the original group of brothers, distributed the Halíti descendents over the vast high plain, that, even today, retains its name Planalto dos Parecis” (Machado 2002).

As pointed out by Souza (1997:31):

“They explain the differences within the group, and the sense of belonging that unites the, because of the myth. Within the Paresi territory Wazaré also chose and set aside adequate spaces for each subgroup so that his people lived on the land (vide Costa 1985:59-60) and constructed their villages. The Paresi explain that because of these villages, even the most recent, are build in sites where there had already been other villages”.

The territory is the substratum of collective memory and the oral storytelling is an integral agent among generations and people. To be part of this past is to be part of something bigger: it is to have an identity that creates differences so that other groups accept them, defining relationship categories and dichotomies in which “we” is juxtaposed with “others”. Real differences, imaginarily or imposed, emerge and are constructed from this relationship. The occupation of territory has permitted the ethnic appropriation of the land (Jones, 1997, 1999), a political construction over the territory. This appropriation, consisting of language and other cultural characteristics, allowed the Paresi to utilize differentiated spaces for self-determination within the group and to recognize “others” because identity changes according to the way in which the subjects are interpellated or represented. When the identification is not automatic, it can be gained or lost and become an issue of internal politics in the process that creates a political change in identity (of class) in the politics of

23 The examples are the ancient villages (in the present-day archeological sites) Kotikiko, Salto do Utiariti, Ponte de Pedra and Sacre. difference (Hall 2003:21). This phenomenon can be perceived among the Paresi, the “white man,” and the Nambikwara. Historically, the Nambikwara and the Paresi were enemies but since they now occupy the same territory, recognized as Paresi, they have stopped being enemies and have become allies in a pact that doesn’t erase the bellicose past (the old feuds that are always remembered by the elders). One of the favorite activities of a Paresi is to complain about a Nambikwara and vice versa; “to speak badly” about one another is common and doesn’t prevent interethnic marriages and good friendships. They refer to political games and strategies constantly carried out in front of the “white man”; when the “white man” is not near it is easy to imagine whom the Paresi and the Nambikwara are talking about. The juxtaposition is only one more way to reinforce their identity and shared past. To distinguish themselves from other indigenous groups, the Paresi self- define as Halití (people of the town) and as such they are known; nevertheless, to differentiate themselves from the “white man” living in their zones they self-define as Paresis. For the “white man” the Paresi are, simply, indigenous. The myth of Stone Bridge and the other transgenerational references give a sense of continuity and integration and form part of the oral universe, which has been underscored by the archeological investigation that we have carried out in Paresi territory. To preserve this cultural heritage is not only important for raising the self-esteem of the Paresi but also for better understanding the significance of the transformations and growth of some communication genres, deepening the knowledge of these societies and highlighting the importance of the methodic use of oral sources for archeology and its consequential social responsibility. These types of societies are rooted in the notions of memory and orality that, nevertheless, are some of the most vulnerable aspects of their cultural identity. These notions are of fundamental importance for the minority groups and the indigenous populations because they are a vital source of an identity rooted in tradition. In these communities the values, wisdom, celebrations and forms of expression are transmitted orally, and thus orality is the foundation of their communal life (Moi 2003).

Intangible heritage24 is transformed over time because the means of transmission of knowledge are collectively recreated and reformulated (Sperber 1996); Therefore, through the study of the oral sources it is possible (a) to understand their change in the present, which guaranties the maintenance, the transformation and the generation of knowledge (b) to understand the society through the adequacy for to the present; and (c) to construct and/or reconstruct cultural expression. The myths of origin, the family histories and the narratives allow access to the cultural and the period. The history and myth are forms of social conciseness through which people develop their shared interpretations (Hill 1988). Myth serves in the construction and reproduction of the difference between those people who live in the present and those powerful entities of times past; thereby not only is a continuation with their origin established (as is the case with the myth Stone Bridge) but also relates to ethnic boundaries, available to archeological verification. In this way we attempt not only to construct and/or reconstruct facts or events of a society but also rather to understand them in their reality (Lummis 1992).

(Re) constructing identity: archeology and ancestry

The environmental impact studies in archeology and the following surveys and rescue programs of the identified sites provide the first systematic studies of the pre-colonial occupation of the region of Chapada dos Parecis, which led to the identification, excavation and analysis of many archeological sites25. Some investigations are being carried out in nearby regions (Oliveira and Viana 1989; Migliácio 2000, 2006; Vialou 2005), in parts of the Brazilian territory that are thus

24 The "intangible cultural heritage" are the uses, representations, expressions, knowledge and technology (along with the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces of which they are inherent) that the comunities, the groups, and in some cases, the individuals recognize as an integral part of their cultural heritage. The intangible cultural heritage (that is transmitted from generation to generation) is constantly recreated in response to the environment and interaction with nature and history, infusing a sense of identity and continuity and contributying to the promotion of respect for cultural diversity and human creativity (UNESCO 2003). 25 Consult the field reports (Morales 1998; Morales and Moi 2001, 2003; Moi and Morales 2003), the diagnostics of the companies (Documento Antropología e Arqueología 2001a, 2001b, 2003; Griphus 2003) and the works presented in the congresses (Moi 2003). far unexplored from the archeological perspective. The projects done over the past few years in the region of valleys and rivers of Ponte de Pedra, Sangue, Sacre, Papagaio and Juruena revealed very high archeological potential; they include pre-colonial and historic lithic and ceramic sites, both open-air and sheltered, that allows us to reconstruct a cultural mosaic of human occupation that could reach back thousands of years and provide a final link to current indigenous activities. Despite this significant archeological potential in the Paresi area, regional contexts of other more precise human activities have yet to be pieced together. Based on the information obtained by the fieldwork (Morales 1998; Morales and Moi 2001; Moi and Morales 2003) the presence of ancient buried lithic sites in the deepest layers of the terrain is now known. The vestiges of these settlements are found on the riverbanks of the Sangue, at 1.5 meters deep, and reveals sophisticated technology of craftsmanship in premium material of excellent quality; proving this are remnants that suggest the presence of bifacial pieces. The sites associated with this activity have been identified in the area surrounding the waterfalls of the river, in plains with gravel ground now covered by dense vegetation. More recent lithic activities located in the high water sites in Sacre 2, and the Sacre River, were found in small hills close to the river, in fertile soil with dense tree cover. There heavier artifacts made of silicified sandstone have been found. The ceramic groups have been discovered in two ways: (a) they were identified by the Paresi as settlements associated with ancient villages of their tribe; their preliminary analysis, conducted based on the fieldwork, t demonstrated that the material in these areas of vegetation are thickened, yearly, by fires and are situated close to the larges rivers. These ceramics demonstrate great technological diversity, decoration with incisions, marks of basketry in the walls and different types of clay; and b) the site associated with the archeological tradition is called Uru; in this case the pieces are similar to those identified in the Planalto Central and in Mato Grosso (Oliveira and Viana 1989; Wüst 1990; Robrahn-González 1996; Morales 2005, 2007 e 2008); they consist of grey, light fragments with a cariapé desgrasante and fired at a low temperature; there is no

decoration on the walls; the sites are a little farther from the major waterways, close to 300-400 meters in sandy areas. There are also graphics in the two sheltered sections next to the Sangue and Ponte de Pedra rivers; the latter, as we already indicated, is a sacred site for the Paresi people. In the region of the Ponte de Pedra River there are schematic graphics and concavities for the polishing/sharpening of axes. There the archeological vestiges are not limited to the rocks and artifacts; the landscape has mythological meanings that were incorporated into the Paresi imaginary. There lies the Stone Bridge, the exact site where a hole was opened for human beings to emerge, la Stone House and a sandstone outcropping that gives unique contours to the stretch of the river. In this place, decades ago, one of the Rondon’s telegraphic stations was installed, the Ponte de Pedra station; few vestiges remain of this historic activity; nickel plates, munitions cartridges, tin remnants, eroded graves, the base of a foundation for the telegraph post and an inscription in brittle sandstone next to the Stone Bridge where the date 1915 and the initials A M can be read. In the first discovered shelters situated next to the Sangue River, various petroglyphs have been identified. One of them is located next to the river canyon in a small concavity created by the water during the largest floods; others are located in a more elevated zone and have walls replete with graphics and few stratigraphic vestiges in the interior. This outcropping is in a region that oral knowledge, ethno histories and ethnographies identify as Paresi territory (Moi 2003). The archeological investigations have awoken a lot of attention among the indigenous communities that we work with26. For some leaders with a nose for opportunity and more attuned to the changing role of archeologists, this new “species” in the pantheon of investigators who traverse indigenous lands, has generated a hope and bewilderment. Bewilderment because they always arrive with unusual questions that do not adhere to those formulated by anthropologists or FUNAI officials a long time ago. The archeologists, in the indigenous people’s

26 We conducted archeological research with the help of the Xerente, Nambikwara and Paresi indigenous groups. own words, ask questions with difficult answers that, almost always, cause surprise if not indignation. That was the reaction in the case of the Xerente, when we asked them if they had heard of an era in which the elders carved in stone, worked leather and skin animals medical use (Moi 2007): or with the Nambikwara and Paresi when we asked about the existence of villages “from ancient times”. Winds of change can bring new information and unknown facts that can be utilized to better understand the territory where they live and the tools that they used in the not too distant past. This knowledge is valuable because it revives a cultural heritage that forms a part of their daily lives and can serve other purposes in the future. Hope because the indigenous groups see in the archeological investigations an opportunity that recognized and demarked the areas that before belonged to their territories of use and circulation. For this reason the investigators instigated an effort to identify archeological sites outside the limits of the indigenous lands, utilizing their results as a way to incorporate these ancient settlements. Over the course of this process we could perceive how the maintenance and the propagation of myth reinforce the Paresi identity and how some results of the archeological investigations have been incorporated into their mythological pantheon and orality (Moi 2003). The archeological investigations carried out in Paresi territory revealed a rocky refuge next to the Sangue River, up until then unknown to the indigenous people. The unedited images of this sheltered area were shown to a Paresi woman, who identified the graphic style as those of her own people; after they were shown to members of the Nambikwara group, who also recognized them for their Paresi graphic style. The interviews that we conducted in different sites yielded similar reports of the meaning of the images (Moi 2003). The informants confirmed the association of the graphics with their people because they recognized familiar schematic representations of instruments used to hunt. Thereby the archeological investigation uncovered a direct relation between the Paresi and the unedited stone images, suggesting the possibility that the drawing were a type of “manual” for the manufacture of hunting instruments. Rony Azoinayce Paresi, son of Daniel Cabixi, professor and important indigenous leader who works with the revitalization of body graphics among young people, was brought to the refuge to see and learn more about the inscriptions; after long contemplation, he confirmed the association between some geometric graphics with some currently used by the Paresi and, as other people had already done, he named them in his language (especially some zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images like the snake, a human foot and the sun). When we asked him if in his studies these drawings already existed or if they were regularly used he said no but that he they would be because they were found together with others that, without a doubt, came from his people; furthermore, he indicated that these new drawings (known or not) would become a part of his classes on the revitalization of body graphics. From then on the stone graphics next to the Sangue River became (or again came to be) a part of the tradition, the myth and the history of the Paresi. The reintroduction of these images to the indigenous people allowed us to understand the dimension of the ideological/conceptual context of those who are in charge of transmission and communication in the Paresi society; these people could and/or were going to act as a social and political force that assimilates, excludes or manipulates the events according to the situation. In the case of the Paresi, the archeological investigation is only a part of the larger context that, besides addressing themes like cultural heritage (the ancestry), also involves political actions that help win the recognition (and the free use) of their ancestral lands and property rights over the objects that are in museum custody. Therefore, the archeological investigations (like other investigations that are carried out in the indigenous areas) should be exercise social responsibility, recognizing the historic, social role and the political context of the discipline and the need to make them important again for society, although how the results of the investigation are put to use may escape from the control of the investigators and have some unexpected consequences. The interests and actors involved in our work in Paresi territory are many and diverse, which forces one to push aside simplistic viewpoints with two defined and polarized sides. In many cases the interests are tenuous and at times, the differences are reduced to an argument about the fundamental rights of the community (at least among some of its most influential leaders), the energy companies, the agricultural companies, the local government of the Campo Novo of the Parecis and the Estado de Mato Grosso want to develop projects in the region. The explanation for the concurrence of interests is that the works that impact the environmental and cultural heritage also come with financial benefits (compensating and appeasing measures for the indigenous people and for the municipality), higher taxes for the municipality and the state and improvements in infrastructure, which permits a better circulation of people and merchandise. The Paresi participate in a complex political, economic and symbolic game on which their physical and cultural survival depends. The indigenous people “are in line for the jackknife” (hanging by a thread). The arms and ammunition available to them are the riches of the lands in which they live, the cultural patrimony inherited from their ancestors and the experiences accumulated from the fronts of expansion and the damages caused in the two last centuries by the “world of the white man”. The Paresi organize themselves into associations, argue their cause in national and international media and mobilize environmentalists, organisms of indigenous assistance and politicians genuinely interested in the environmental question or in search of an electoral opportunity. The Paresi do not hide the fact that they want financial resources supplied by tourist activity on their lands, the profits generated by the turbines of the PCHs or the dividends produced through the leasing of their land for the cultivation of soy; but neither do they renounce their differentiated status in national society and their constitutional rights that guarantee them their lands, territories of circulation, traditions, sacred sites, languages, customs, and furthermore, the assistance of governmental organizations in the area of justice, health, and education. As part of this game, they have begun to employ the archeologists and the information they generate through their investigations in order to carry out projects to reconstruct their past and the history of those of the indigenous groups that occupied the region since times immemorial.

Final Considerations

Through this investigation we sought to delineate and discuss the uses and the ideological and political appropriations that the Paresi employ (or don’t) as a result of archeological works carried out on their territory. As a result we noted a growing interest in the investigations (for example, the incorporation of the stone graphic designs in the revitalization of body painting), beyond the already known use to justify the expansion of their lands. Such consequences caused by archeological investigations are an example of the political and social involvement of archeological activity in the contemporary context, even though the discipline is dedicated to the construction of the past (Miller and Tilley 1984; Hodder 1986; Funari 1999, 2001, 2004; Ascherson 2000; Funari et al. 2005).

Acknowledgments To Edison Rodrigues de Souza of Operação Amazônia Nativa (OPAN) for his comments and suggestions.

References

Abreu, Capistrano de 1988 Capítulos de história colonial. Conselho Editorial do Senado Federal, Brasilia. Acselrad, Henri 2004 Conflitos ambientais. A atualidade do objeto. In Conflitos ambientais no Brasil, editado por Henri Acselrad, pp 7-11. Relume Dumará-Fundação Heinrich Boll, Río de Janeiro. Agostinho, Pedro 1974 Kwarup: mito e ritual no alto Xingu. EPU/EDUSP, São Paulo. Alarcón-Chaíres, Pablo 2006 Riqueza ecológica versus pobreza social: contradicciones y perspectivas del desarrollo indígena en Latinoamérica. In: Pueblos indígenas y pobreza: enfoques multidisciplinarios, editado por Alberto Cimadamore, Robyn Eversone y John- Andrew McNeish, pp 41-70. CLACSO, Buenos Aires. Arbix, Glauco, Álvaro Comin, Mauro Zilbovicius and Ricardo Abramovay 2002 Brasil, México África do Sul, Índia e China: diálogo entre os que chegaram depois. Editora Unesp-Edusp, São Paulo. Ascherson, Neal. 2000 Editorial. Public Archaeology (1)1:1-4. 2001 Editorial. Public Archaeology (2)1:1-2. Badariotti, Nicolau. 1898 Exploração no norte de Matto Grosso. Região do alto Paraguay e planalto dos paresis. São Paulo, Escola Tyo Salesiana. Balandier, George 1963 Sociologie actuelle de l'Afrique noire: dynamique sociale en Afrique centrale. PUF. París. Barros, Márcio Carlos Vieira. 2002 A questão ambiental e os professores Paresi do município de Tangará da Serra, Mato Grosso: uma análise contextualizada. Tese de mestrado, Faculdade de Educacão, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá. Barth, Fredrik (Editor) 1969 Ethnic groups and boundaries: the social organization of culture difference. Little, Brown and Company, Boston. Berkes, Fikret, Carl Folke and Madhay Gadgil 1993 Traditional ecological knowledge, biodiversity, resilience and sustainability. Beijer Discussion paper series 31, Estocolmo. Borda, Carolina and Darío Mejía 2006 Participación política y pobreza de las comunidades indígenas de Colombia. El caso de los pueblos zenú y mokaná. In Pueblos indígenas y pobreza: enfoques multidisciplinarios, editado por Alberto Cimadamore, Robyn Eversone y John-Andrew McNeish, pp 71-86. CLACSO, Buenos Aires. Costa, Anna Maria Ribeiro Fernandes Moreira 2002 Senhores da memoria. Uma história do Nambiquara do cerrado. Unicem, Cuiabá. Costa, Romana M. Ramos 1985 Cultura e contato: um estudo da sociedade paresi no contexto das relações interétnicas. Tese de mestrado, Universidade Federal do Río de Janeiro, Río de Janeiro. Carneiro da Cunha, Manuela 1985 Negros estrangeiros: os escravos libertos e sua volta à África. Editora Brasiliense, São Paulo. 1986 Antropologia do Brasil: mito, história, etnicidade. Editora Brasiliense-EDUSP, São Paulo. Diacon, Todd 2006 Rondon, o marechal da floresta. Companhia das Letras, São Paulo.

Documento Antropologia e Arqueologia SC Ltda. 2001a Diagnóstico de Patrimônio Arqueológico, Histórico e Cultural para o Projeto PCH Sacre 2 (mimeo). 2001b PCH Sacre / MT. Diagnóstico Arqueológico e Antropológico. Novembro / 2001 (mimeo). 2003 Complexo Juruena. Diagnóstico Antropológico / Diagnóstico do Patrimônio Arqueológico, Histórico e Cultural. Vols. 1 a 3, Setembro / 2003, (mimeo). Filho, Aderval Costa 1994 Os paresi: sistemas econômicos. UFMT, Cuiabá. 1996 Mansos por natureza, situações históricas e permanência paresi. Dissertação de mestrado, Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia. Freitas, Luís Caldas sf Minhas memórias. Editora Mimeográfica, Belo Horizonte. Funari, Pedro Paulo Abreu. 1999 Brazilian archaeology, a reappraisal. In Archaeology in Latin America, editado por Gustavo Politis y Benjamin Alberti, pp 17-37. Routledge, Londres. 2001 Public archaeology from a Latin American perspective. Public Archaeology 1(4):239-243. 2004 Public archaeology in Brazil. Public Archaeology pp 202-210. Funari, Pedro, Charles Orser y Solange Schiavetto (org.). 2005 Identidades, discurso e poder: estudos de arqueologia contemporânea. Annablume-Fapesp, São Paulo. Garrard, Greg 2006 Ecocrítica. Universidad de Brasília, Brasília. Giddens, Anthony 1990 The consequences of modernity. Polity Press, Cambridge. Gordilho, Gastón and Juan Martín Leguizamón 2002 El río y la frontera: movilizaciones aborígenes, obras públicas y mercosur en el Pilcomayo. Biblos, Buenos Aires. Goudie, Andrew 1990 The human impact on the natural environment. Blackwell, Oxford. Gray, Andrew, Parellada, Alejandro y Helen Newing 1998 From principles to practice: indigenous and conservation in Latin American. IWGIA, Document 87, Copenhage. Griphu's Consultoria Ltda 2003 Relatório Final - Projeto de resgate arqueológico na área diretamente afetada pela PCH Baruito, MT. Global Energia (mimeo). Hall, Stuart 2003 A identidade cultural na pós-modernidade. DP&A, Río de Janeiro. Harvey, David 1985 The geopolitics of capitalism. In Social relations and spatial structures, editado por Derek Gregory y John Urry, pp 129- 163. St. Martin Press, Londres. 1989 The condition of postmodernity. Blackwell, Oxford. 1996 Justice, nature, and the geography of difference. Blackwell, Oxford. Hill, Jonathan D 1988 Introduction. In: Myth and history. Rethinking history and myth: indigenous South-American perspectives on the past, pp 1-17. University of Illinois Press, Urbana. Hobsbawn, Eric 1995 Era dos extremos. O breve século XX (1914-1991). Companhia das Letras, São Paulo. Hodder, Ian 1986 Politics and ideology in the World Archaeological Congress. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 5:113-119. Jones, Siân 1997 The archaeology of ethnicity: constructing identities in the past and present. Routledge, Londres. 1999 Historical categories and the praxis of identity: the interpretation of ethnicity in archaeology. In Historical archaeology. Back from the edge, editado por Pedro Funari, Martin y Siân Jones, pp 219-232. Routledge, Londres. Lévi-Strauss, Claude 1996 Tristes trópicos. Companhia das Letras, São Paulo. [1955]. Lummis, Trevor 1992 Oral history. En Folklore, cultural performances and popular entertainments, editado por Richard Bauman, pp 6-13. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Machado, Maria de Fátima Roberto 2002 Relatório complementar de identificação e delimitação da T.I. Estação Parecis (Decreto no 1775). Coord. do GT Port. no 527/FUNAI/PRES de 21 jun 2000), Cuiabá. Migliácio, Maria Clara 2000 A ocupação pré-colonial do Pantanal de Cáceres, Mato Grosso: uma leitura preliminar. Dissertação de mestrado, USP/MAE, São Paulo. 2006 O doméstico e o ritual: cotidiano Xaray no Alto Paraguai até o século XVI. Tese de Doutorado, USP/MAE, São Paulo. Miller, Daniel and Christopher Tilley 1984 Ideology, power and prehistory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Missão Rondon 1946 Apontamentos sobre os trabalhos realizados pela comissão de linhas telegráficas estratégicas de Matto-Grosso ao Amazonas - 1907-1915. Publicados em artigos do Jornal do Commercio do Rio de Janeiro em 1915, Rio de Janeiro. Moi, Flavia Prado 2003 Patrimônio imaterial e tradição oral: potencialidades de pesquisa. In Resumos XII Congresso da Sociedade de Arqueologia Brasileira, p 168, São Paulo. 2006 Arqueologia pública em território paresi: uma análise dos desdobramentos políticos, socioculturais e econômicos decorrentes das pesquisas arqueológicas. Exame de qualificação, NEPAM-UNICAMP, Campinas. 2007 Os xerente: um enfoque etnoarqueológico. Editora Annablue/Acervo-Centro de Referência em Patrimônio e Pesquisa, São Paulo. Moi, Flavia Prado and Walter Fagundes Morales 2003 Relatório de campo para as PCHs do Juruena (produzido para a Documento Antropologia e Arqueologia SC Ltda), mimeo. Morales, Walter Fagundes 1998 Relatório de campo da UHE Ponte de Pedra (produzido para a empresa Documento Antropologia e Arqueologia SC Ltda). (mimeo). 2005 12.000 anos de ocupação: um estudo de arqueologia regional na bacia do córrego Água Fria, médio curso do rio Tocantins. Tese de doutorado, Universidade de São Paulo, Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, São Paulo. 2007 Um estudo de Arqueologia Regional no médio curso do rio Tocantins, TO, Planalto Central Brasileiro In Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia da Universidade de São Paulo, 17. São Paulo. Pp.69-67 2008 Brasil Central: 12.000 anos de ocupação humana no médio curso do rio Tocantins, TO. São Paulo: Editora Annablume; Acervo – Centro de Referência em Patrimônio e Pesquisa, Porto Seguro. Morales, Walter Fagundes and Flavia Prado Moi 2001 Relatório de campo para a PCH 28 (produzido para a empresa Documento Antropologia e Arqueologia SC Ltda), (mimeo). 2003 Relatório de campo para a PCH 28 (produzido para a empresa Documento Antropologia e Arqueologia SC Ltda) (mimeo). Montserrat, Ruth Maria Fonini 1994 Línguas indígenas no Brasil contemporâneo. In Índios no Brasil, editado por Luís Donisete Benzi Grupioni, pp 93-94. Ministerio de Educação e Deportes, Brasília. Neves, Lino João de Oliveira 2003 Olhos mágicos do sul (do Sul): lutas contra-hegemônicas dos povos indígenas no Brasil. In Reconhecer para libertar: os caminhos do cosmopolitismo multicultural, editado por Boaventura de Sousa Santos, pp 111-151. Civilização Brasileira, Río de Janeiro. Oliveira, Jorge Eremites and Sibeli Aparecida Viana 1989 O centro-oeste antes de Cabral. In Dossiê antes de Cabral: arqueología brasileira, volume 1, pp 89-142. Revista USP, São Paulo. Perrone-Moisés, Beatriz 1992 Índios livres e índios escravos: os princípios da legislação indigenista do período colonial (séculos XVI a XVIII). In História dos índios no Brasil, editado por Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, pp 115-154. Companhia das Letras-Fapesp-SMC, São Paulo. Pivetta, Darci Luiz and Maria de Lourdes Bandeira Delamônica Freire 1993 Irantxe: luta pelo território expropriado. UFMT, Cuiabá. PNUD 2004 Relatório do desenvolvimento humano 2004. Liberdade cultural num mundo diversificado. PNUD, Lisboa. Prefeitura de Campo Novo do Parecis. 2002 Campo Novo do Paresis, Mato Grosso, Brasil. Celeiro Nacional de Produção. Ilimitado potencial agroindustrial, comercial e turístico. Revista de fevereiro. Price, P. David 1976a Aculturation, social assistance and political context: the nambikwara in Brazil. En Actes du XLII Congres International des Amereicanistes, volumen II, París. 1976b Política indigenista e política indígena entre os nambiquara. Informativo FUNAI, número 15/16. 1983 La pacificación de los nambikwara. América Indígena XLIII (3):601-628. Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo 1976 Cosmology as ecological analysis: a view from the rain forest. Man 2:307-318. Roberto, Maria de Fátima 1987 Relatório de avaliação atual dos índios Paresi na cidade. FIPE/POLONOESTE, Cuiaba. Robrahn-González, Erika 1996 A ocupação ceramista pré-colonial do Brasil Central: origens e desenvolvimento. Tese de doutoramento, FFLCH/USP, São Paulo. Robrahn-González, Érika 2006 Relatório Final do Programa de Patrimônio Cultural da PCH Paranatinga II, Documento Antropologia e Arqueologia. Rondon, Cândido Mariano da Silva 1946 Conferências realizadas em 1910 no Rio de Janeiro e em São Paulo pelo tenente-coronel Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon. Imprensa Nacional-CNPq-Ministério da Agricultura, Río de Janeiro. Roosevelt, Theodore 1976 Nas selvas do Brasil. Universidade de São Paulo-Livraria Itatiaia Editora Ltda, São Paulo. Sahlins, Marshall 1978 A primeira sociedade da afluência. In Antropologia econômica, editado por Edgard Assis Carvalho, pp 7-44. Livraria Editora Ciências Humanas, São Paulo. Secchi, Darci 1995 Diagnóstico da educação escolar indígena em Mato Grosso. Programa das nações unidas para o desenvolvimento. Consultoria para educação escolar indígena. PNUD/BRA/94/006/Prodeagro, Cuiabá. Shennan, Stephen 1994 Introduction: archaeological approaches to cultural identity. In Archaeologycal approaches to cultural identity, editado por Stephen Shennan, pp 1-32. Routledege, Londres. 2000 Population, culture history and the dynamics of cultural change. In Current Anthopology 41(5):811-835. Silva, Jovam Vilela da 1993 A capitania de Mato Grosso: política de povoamento e população - século XVIII. Tese de doutoramento, FFLCH/USP, São Paulo. Souza, Hellen Cristina de 1997 Entre a aldeia e a cidade: educação escolar pareci. Tese de doutoramento, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá. Sperber, Dan 1996 La contagion des idées. Odile Jacob, París. Thomas, Julian 1996 Time, culture and identity: an interpretative archaeology. Routledge, Londres. Toledo, Victor 1992 What is ethnoecology?: origins, scope and implications of a rising discipline. Etnoecológica 1(1):5-21. UNESCO 2003 Convención para la salvaguarda del patrimonio cultural inmaterial. UNESCO, París. Urban, Greg 1992 A história da cultura brasileira segundo as línguas nativas. In História dos índios no Brasil, editado por Manuela Carneiro da Cunha, pp 87-102. Companhia das Letras-Fapesp-SMC, São Paulo. Vialou, Vilhena Águeda 2005 Pré-história de Mato Grosso, volumes 1 y 2. Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo. Vicenzo, Lauriola 2003 Ecologia global contra diversidade cultural? Conservação da natureza a povos indígenas no Brasil: o monte Roraima entre o Parque Nacional e Terra Indígena Raposa, Serra do Sol. Ambiente & Sociedade 6 (1):165-189. Wüst, Irmhild 1990 Continuidade e mudança. Para uma interpretação dos grupos ceramistas pré-coloniais da bacia do rio Vermelho, Mato Grosso. Tese de Doutoramento, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo. Yúdice, George 2004 A conveniência da cultura: usos da cultura na era global. Editora UFMG, Belo Horizonte. This document was created with Win2PDF available at http://www.win2pdf.com. The unregistered version of Win2PDF is for evaluation or non-commercial use only. This page will not be added after purchasing Win2PDF.