Corpo-território: as mulheres indígenas Borari de Alter do Chão - Santarém/Pará

Abstract

This research aims to understand the conflicts occurring in the Borari Indigenous Territory of Alter do Chão and their implications for the body-territory of Borari Indigenous women. These impacts stem from frontier expansion and the actions of external agents that drive real estate speculation, land grabbing, forest fires, and the growth of mass tourism, directly affecting the community. Historically, Borari women have played a central role in resistance and leadership since the colonial period. Constantly under attack in different spheres against their identity, their people, and their territory they occupy political and representative spaces to amplify the collective voice and establish a defensive barrier. In this context, the concept of body-territory emerges as a fundamental political mechanism for the Latin American Indigenous movement, serving as an instrument of resistance, emancipation, and decolonization. This principle transcends the perception of territory as mere property, understanding it as a space of life and an ancestral, spiritual, and cultural connection for Indigenous peoples. In western Pará, the establishment of the Tapajós Arapiuns Indigenous Council has strengthened the role of Borari women, encouraging them to lead collective movements to confront increasing threats, protect their rights, and ensure the preservation of their territory. The research selected the participant observation methodology, highlighting the role of sacred memories in preserving Borari identity. Elements such as sung histories, ancestral knowledge, rituals, handicrafts, and Tapajonic ceramics are essential to keeping this culture alive, as well as reaffirming the ancestral bonds to the territory. Finally, body-territory is addressed as a central concept in the struggle of Borari Indigenous women for the demarcation of their lands. It reveals the profound relationship between the Indigenous female body and its ancestral space, emphasizing that the body should not be seen merely in its physical or biological aspect but as a living extension of the territory, marked by resistance, culture, spirituality, and ancestry.