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The special (or specious?) status of Brazilian Indians
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2003
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ColonialismNationalismBrazilian HistoryLatin American StudyIndigenous PeoplesIndigenous PeopleCultural StudiesIndigenous StudySocial SciencesLatin American DiasporaLatin American SocietyPolitical ScienceLanguage StudiesLatin American CultureComparative PoliticsFull CitizenshipIndigenous RightsEthnographyAnthropologyCultural AnthropologyBrazilian Indians
A centuries-old theme in Brazilian history, the wardship of indigenous peoples by the state, reached a crisis with the 1988 Constitution, which practically put an end to the previous assimilationist policies. Nevertheless, the issue of full citizenship has by no means been superseded. It is neither uncontestedly claimed by the Indians nor universally acknowledged by the nation at large. The association of state wardship with territorial rights has created a great deal of ambivalence with regard to the special status officially imputed to the Indians. This paper examines the intricacies of this ambivalence in the contemporary context of economic and political organising on the part of indigenous peoples against the background of liberal state policies.