The indigenous political movement in Roraima: indigenous and national identities in the border of Brazil and Guiana

Abstract

This article discusses the indigenous political movement which has been consolidated in Roraima State, Brazil, since the 1970s, through the strengthening of indigenous identities, focusing above all on the Macushi and Wapishana. An analysis is made of the interface of these identities with Brazilian and Guyanese national identities, on the international border, which became clearly defined after this border was demarcated in 1904. The ways in which these identities overlap, and exist together simultaneously as contextualised identities is examined among the indigenous peoples who inhabit this region since long before the international border was imposed.

indigenous movement; Makuxi; Wapichana; ethnical and national identities; frontier