The entire surrounding forest: famine and uninhabitable territories

This study analyzes how famine among Indigenous peoples has historically been involved in the rhetoric that questions territorial rights and territoriality. Starting from the disinformation about the chronic malnutrition the Yanomami people recently experienced, this study historically contextualizes the famine phenomenon for them. It analyzes the complexity of the causes behind the current scenario. The anthropological and historiographical bibliographical review and archival research in this study propose a reflection on the historical role the delegitimization of Indigenous lands, including the thesis of the Amazonian demographic void, has in the very production of famine in these territories.

Keywords:
Famine; Yanomami; Territoriality; Demographic void; Land grabbing; Illegal mining