Os Tentehar-Guajajara no centro-sul maranhense e os projetos assimilacionistas republicanos (1890-1940): agências indígenas em um romance histórico bilíngue

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to analyze the assimilationist educational projects introduced among the Tentehar-Guajajara in the south-central region of Maranhão in the first decades of the Republic (1890 to 1940) and to discuss, within the scope of these actions, their ideological bases, historical trajectory, general characteristics of the functioning of the implemented actions and their developments among the agencies of the indigenous people of that ethnic group. Based on this research, it was agreed to refer to these endeavors as part of two projects. The first, in chronological order, is named in the work as Christian-civilizing (under the responsibility of the Capuchin Order) and is centered on the relations between religious people and the ethnic group researched, although it recognizes the great importance of the economic perspective presented there, with the assumption of these actions as a path to the incorporation of indigenous people into the capitalist system through a common form of exploitation, producing surpluses from their overwork, supposedly to be remunerated in money, incorporating externally stipulated work rhythms, having a notion of individual and not collective property, for example. The second project, called national-civilizational (under the management of the Indian Protection Service, the SPI), in terms of the appropriation of the fruits of someone else's labor, maintains a similar characteristic, but in a new scenario and from a different political, social and ideological perspective, due to its articulations with specific circumstances of the republican order, more focused on another form of integration of indigenous peoples into the <national= social corpus. In each scenario of these endeavors, the documentation on the definitions of indigenous policy in Brazil and Maranhão was analyzed, covering the period between the 1890s and 1940s. At the same time, considering that the research originated from a Professional Postgraduate Program, as well as the importance of Law No. 11.645/08 and, above all, as part of the studies and investigations carried out with a practical purpose in mind, in the classroom, a teaching tool was developed for teaching History (especially indigenous History): a historical novel set in the worldview of the TenteharGuajajara People. Although designed for this purpose and preferably aimed at the school environment, this product can (and should) be used not only in indigenous or non-indigenous schools, but by any audience interested in the subject. This work is the result of the author's experience in the south-central region of Maranhão, his teaching experience at the Instituto Federal do Maranhão (IFMA/Campus Barra do Corda) and the sharing of experiences and diverse learnings with the indigenous peoples of this spatiality, in particular the Tentehar Guajajara. In this "historical fiction", going beyond the plot itself (which portrays the time period addressed in the research), concepts and categories also present in the thesis are debated with subtlety and depth, with the aim of provoking reflections and questions about indigenous history in Maranhão, specifically considering the focus of this work.