The return of Sepé Tiaraju:

memory, historiography and popular resistance in southern Brazil

Abstract

In this article, I will try to elaborate a brief genealogy of the representations and uses of the missionary past in Rio Grande do Sul, focusing on the figure of Sepé Tiaraju. How did popular memory, historiography and the social demands of history shape the meanings attributed to the experience of the Jesuit Missions and the possibilities of their belonging to South Brazilian history? The main sources are folklore – the poem “O Lunar de Sepé” (1910) – traditional historiography – the so-called “Sepé case” (1950s) – and the political uses of the Guarani missionary past and the myth of Sepé in the struggles for acces to land and for recognition – especially in the movements of landless workers and in the organization of the Mbyá-Guarani in the region of São Miguel. The research results point to the persistence of popular perspectives, despite attempts to exclude and assimilate the missionary heritage in the intellectual field and in the official discourse throughout the 20th century, constituting a record of rebellious folk memory that strains the conservative gaucho identity.