The political-spiritual character of the Guarani and Kaiowá retomada movement: The Nova Yvu Vera case (Dourados/MS)

Abstract

The Guarani and Kaiowá retomadas are actions endowed with self-organization and autonomy that this ethnic group uses as a strategy of struggle in the search for return to their territories plundered by colonization in the south of Mato Grosso do Sul, mainly for agribusiness expansion. Based on notions of affirmation of traditional practices and knowledge, retomadas are characterized by being a social, spiritual, and political movement. This paper aims to analyze the spiritual and political aspects present in the struggle of the retomada of Nova Yvu Vera, established in April 2023 in the municipality of Dourados-MS. For this, in addition to bibliographical research, visits were made to the retomada for the collection of empirical data, from ethnography, and participant observation. The findings indicate that the spiritual and political elements are founders of the action in the retomada of Nova Yvu Vera, so that the strategies of struggle in it follow the traditional ways that guide the Guarani and Kaiowá retakes for more than 40 years. The policy in the retomada is directed beyond humans, being also applied to other beings, such as animals, plants, soil, and rivers, considered by the Guarani and Kaiowá as essential entities in the political relationship for the recovery of their territories. Finally, we consider the increasingly present need to carry out an epistemological shift towards indigenous knowledge used by themselves to explain their reality and place in the world.

Keywords: Struggle; Resistance; Colonization; Traditional Knowledge; Guarani and Kaiowá.