Indigenous Peoples in the Araguaia Valley, Brazil
Protestant Evangelization and Civilization Project in the First Republic (1897-1930)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-6524.139482Abstract
This article aims to analyze Protestant evangelization projects directed towards the indigenous peoples of the Araguaia Valley, the central region of Brazil, during the First Republic (1897-1930). The analysis is based on records left by Protestant missionaries in travel reports, books, and news then published. The examination of these historical sources alludes to the articulation of an international Protestant mission project focused on Latin America, aligning with Republican integration projects in a period when the belief in the extinction of indigenous peoples was strong. Indigenous peoples were considered subjects in transition. These sources indicate the persistence and use of a secular integrationist perspective, highlighted in historical accounts of these missions. They also reveal the establishment of territoriality between Protestants and Catholics in the Araguaia Valley region, aiming for dominion and control of ecclesiastical territory. Besides not reaching the expected for the mission, the projection of evolutionary notions and perspectives onto encountered indigenous peoples is evident, allowing for the recognition of their resistance and protagonism as fundamental factors for their existence and re-existence.