Future draws: autonomy and culture in the life projects of the indigenous peoples in Roraima / Brazil.

Abstract

Indigenous people Macuxi and Wapichana, living in savanna and mountain ranges landscape of Roraima state, Brazil, are now discussing the ecological challenges to live according to their "cultural models of life" in areas stablished by law as their indigenous right, while projecting the future. This article proposes to examine the recent efforts made by a regional indigenous organization to collectively build "Environmental and Territorial Management Plans" for indigenous lands. These "plans" are documents that reflect participative processes of planning and agreements about issues like territorial protection and natural resources management. As part of the dynamics of producing these documents, local communities put on paper, through drawings that reveal different points of view about the future, how they imagine and how they wish communal life should be in their lands. My analysis focus is one of these drawings, from which I discuss impasses, challenges and contradictions that the illustrations brought up during interethnic dialogues. My argument is that, beyond the technical and bureaucratic aspect of these documents, the "plans" are expressions of life projects that have a larger sociocultural dimension, translating their communities" desires, expectations and political struggles in defense of their ways of dwelling and living in the world.