Terena territory: from expropriation and formation of reserves to the movement of resumes

Abstract

In the end of the XIX century the extractive colonization and the farming and grazing activity waves in the south of Mato Grosso, current Mato Grosso do Sul intensified. For the Terena people, this process has resulted in the expropriation of territories of traditional occupation, in the compulsory recruitment as mandatory workforce in private initiatives, and in the gradual loss of political autonomy of their communities. In the beginning of the XX century Indigenous Reservations were created in much smaller areas than the one tradionally occupied by the Terena people. Even though, the Terena people reorganized themselves in these spaces, and, by the end of the XX century, taking advantage of the process of redemocratization of the Brazilian society, they started to feature new forms of demanding the demarcation of their territories. In this new context, it is evident the warrior awakening, that comes to live side by side with the diplomatic conduct, that always characterized the way of being terena. The warrior awakening is marked by a growing participation of women, also warriors, expanding women’s participation in public spaces and in the political sphere.