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Indianity and Diversity: the Media Discourse upon a Rape Crime at Bororó Village

Abstract

Based on news of the rape of a 9-year-old child at Bororó village, located in the city of Dourados, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, this paper discusses how the cultural diversity of indigenous peoples is textualized in MS Record, the local TV news program. Supported by the French Line of Discourse Analysis and the study of social practices, this research analyzes how the television media, when questioning some aspects of the indigenous cultural identity through its supposed uniqueness and legitimacy, strikes out at the human rights and diversity, mostly contesting “privileges” given to indigenous people. Among the power relations inherent to the journalistic discourse and the historicity of the analyzed event, there is a effacement of the crime itself in relation to the (lack of) indianity. Ultimately, there is a dissemination of a prejudiced and discriminatory discourse towards them, particularly about how the courts and Brazilian indigenous protection organizations understand their own native people.

Keywords:
Culture; Discourse; Diversity; Media; Rape

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