Power relations and decolonization process in Indigenous reserve of Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil): an analysis

Abstract

Focusing on the formation and development of the Indigenous Reserve of Dourados (Mato Grosso do Sul), this article centers on the conformation, in that space, of a power structure, as well as on its recent questioning, mainly based on the work of the Federal Public Ministry. With this, a decolonization process comes to life, which ends up undermining the effects of a tutelary policy implemented by the Brazilian State. Analyzing such historical facts and processes, the complexity and diversity of interests involved in this context will be shown, highlighting how inopportune it is, for their understanding, to move towards an approach centered on an indigenous / non-indigenous opposition, being, alternatively, more appropriate to consider different levels of scale of political organization - ranging from the domestic dimension, through the formation of local political communities, the manifestation of ethnicity and the formation of interethnic cooperation communities.

Keywords:
power relationships; indigenous people; Dourados Indigenous Reserve; decolonization