O fogo do ouro: histórias kaiowá sobre a Guerra do Paraguai

Abstract

The Paraguayan War is an event that has been historically sedimented in an uncritical manner and is relatively little remembered by the Brazilian population. For the Guarani and Kaiowá in Mato Grosso do Sul, “Paraguai igerrape ndopai” (the Paraguayan War is not over), said the late Mr. Valdomiro Flores, ñanderu (prayer leader and spiritual leader) of the Guayvyry retake. This conflict constitutes an emblematic milestone that shaped the territory traditionally inhabited by the Kaiowá and Guarani: symbolically, through the formation of national borders, and materially, through the cycles of economic exploitation and land reorganization that followed. Historiography scarcely mentions the presence of these indigenous groups in the disputed territory, nor does it explore their participation in the conflict. Ethnology, on the other hand, recognizes the war as a watershed moment in the historical context, but without delving into its impacts on politics, cosmology, and Guarani histories, even today. This dissertation seeks to fill these gaps by presenting narratives about the war shared by the Guarani Kaiowá in the border region between Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraguay. Based on the native categories present in these narratives, the study investigates how the land was divided, how the landscape was transformed, how borders were created, and how the territory was sold. It is research on Kaiowá memory and its creative transformations, aiming to understand the effects that these narratives produce in the contemporary world, as evidenced by life in the present-day land reclamation.