Paper short abstract:

This presentation intends to reflect on the rethinking of identity by indigenous women through the experience of mobility, in the north of Brazil,. From the countryside to the metropolis, they face different issues that rearrange practices and the imagination built upon the migration process.

Paper long abstract:

The following presentation surveys the issue related to the migration of indigenous women in the north of Brazil. More specifically, we'll go to Manaus in the Amazonas state to follow part of the life experiences, which are reflected by those women in their everyday lives. All of those I was in contact during the fieldwork, were from the countryside of Amazonas, São Gabriel da Cachoeira, and usually went to Manaus looking for more education and best job opportunities. Some of them went to the big city being called by a family member or friend that has already done the mobility.

This type of mobility has its specifications related to the matters of gender and ethnicity, that act upon their daily experience as indigenous people and as woman in a big metropolis, such as Manaus. Those experiences also impact on the awareness they get of the city, through their mobility as indigenous women. There's a self reflection upon what is being indigenous thorough the practices provided by the migration experience. Therefor, the prejudice and challenges faced in Manaus also reflect on the imaginary constructed regarding the native brazilian population, through countless stereotypes and narratives that forged the ideal of brazialianess.

By reflecting those cases, we can think of how the experience is reimagined and practiced as those women praise for a better life in the city, at the same time as they rethink their mother land, previous life, and own identity.