Paper Short Abstract:

This presentation aims to provide a panoramic view of the artistic and intellectual production of Brazilian Amerindian thinkers and their fundamental contributions to unwriting established and hegemonic narratives, such as anthropology.

Paper Abstract:

In recent decades, Brazil has witnessed a proliferation of Indigenous thinkers, activists, and artists who not only affirm their ethnic origins but also often draw upon them as the driving force behind their work. Moreover, these thinkers contribute decisively to a critique of Brazilian society and modern Western modes of thought, as well as to the specific frameworks that structure these worldviews, such as history, philosophy, and anthropology.

Visual artists like Denilson Baniwa, Jaider Esbell, and Daiara Tukano—who is also a curator—writers like Daniel Munduruku and Eliana Potiguara, and Ailton Krenak, an activist and thinker who is the first Indigenous member of the prestigious Brazilian Academy of Letters, expand upon the fundamental legacy of Yanomami shaman Davi Kopenawa. Kopenawa is one of the world’s leading environmental activists and a fierce critic of capitalist-driven destruction. Together, these Indigenous thinkers not only advocate for their respective ways of life and highlight the disastrous consequences of the Anthropocene but also engage in what could be called a symmetrical anthropology, a counter-anthropology, or, in Krenak's words, an anticolonial critique.

This presentation aims to provide a panoramic view of the artistic and intellectual production of Brazilian Amerindian thinkers and their fundamental contributions to unwriting established and hegemonic narratives, such as anthropology.