Indigenous people, land and territory in Alagoas: a geographic analyses of today's resistance.

Abstract

The territorial formation of Brazil and Alagoas was built on the usurpation of indigenous lands for the social relations of hegemonic productions. This has resulted in the physical disposal of indigenous people and dispersion/demise of ethnicities. Nonetheless, throughout the XX century, in particular, after the military dictatorship, a number of indigenous groups undertook, publicly, their ethnic condition, turning to search the resumption of their lands for the construction of their territory. In the present investigation is sought to analyse the territorial formation of Alagoas and its developments for indigenous people. It is also analysed the emergence of indigenous ethnicities in the state of Alagoas and the triggered process of struggles, as a vivid expression of territorial inconsistencies. As theoretical support to the analyses, it is performed a conceptual discussion of land and territory, based on authors of Geography and other areas of Human Science, searching to decode their semantic expressions, in the context of the indigenous issue. Finally, considerations are made about the current scenario of struggles for indigenous land and territory, in Alagoas, observing data and information about the landholding regularization, violation of lands, assassinations and death threats. It is an analytical contribution with theoretical-empirical reference, which aims provide elements for the understanding of the contemporary situation experienced by indigenous ethnicities in Alagoas.