The process of conquering the territory of Akwẽ-Xerente in Tocantins state

Abstract

This text is part of a doctoral study in human geography, which aims to study the social, economic and environmental transformations experienced in the territory of Akwẽ-Xerente. Thus we will present the history of contact and conquest of the territory of Akwẽ-Xerente, in west-central state of Tocantins marked by major conflicts with farmers, squatters and illegal occupants. For the analysis and understanding of these conflicts were used as theoretical frameworks studies of Chaim (1983), Gallois (2004), Ribeiro (1996), Apolinário (2006), De Paula (2000), Oliveira-Reis (2001), Martins (2012), among other scholars. Nowadays the Akwẽ-Xerente have to challenge the permanence of political organization and language among indigenous youth and the economic and social survival within and outside its territory. This problem may have been built primarily on the interference of the federal public policies and changes in their relations with the state and the culture of capitalist mass invading the everyday life of the Akwẽ-Xerente.