Jê Ethnopaisage and Reterritorialization of Southern Brazil (1768-1773)

ABSTRACT

The territorial formation and reterritorialization of the lands of southern Brazil, in the second half of the eighteenth century, were influenced by an ethnopaisage constituted by tangible and intangible marks of the different indigenous ethnic groups inhabiting the region. Such marks were later appropriated by the soldiers-seratologists charged with the official mission of mapping them in scientific-demarcatory, or exploration and mapping expeditions. The interpretation of their written observations - left in the form of diaries, notices and letters - in the light of Cultural Geography, as well as of ethno-anthropological and archaeological data and the concept of ethnogenesis, led us to the identification of a political ethnopaisage, produced by the Jê-speaking groups and demarcating their agency in the processes of territorial formation and reterritorialization of southern Brazil.

Keywords: Ethnic Groups; Amerindians; Cultural Landscape; Sovereignty; Territorial Rights