Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: VERÔNICA ARAÚJO MENDES

INDIGENOUS WOMEN IN HISTORY: BIOGRAPHICAL ITINERARIES, CITY EXPERIENCES AND RESISTANCE TO COLONIALISM

Indigenous women. History. City experiences.

This research arises from a perennially colonizing theoretical-political framework and analytically rewrites it through the actions and thoughts of indigenous ethnopolitical subjects. It is through biographical itineraries that I undo hegemonic narratives, not only writing about indigenous women in history, but, jointly, pursuing their inscriptions. Bearing in mind that the indigenous-city relationship is a topic little explored in historiographical domains – where remnants of assimilationist, integrationist and aculturalist “theories” can be observed, creating stereotypical frames that deny indigenous existence in the urbis –, I focus on the city experiences of indigenous women who live on the outskirts of Garanhuns – PE. In this way, in addition to subverting hegemonic propositions, I intend to analyze, counter-hegemonically, the sociocultural and political dynamics – in a broad sense – instituted by the city-making of indigenous women. It is about understanding the resistance strategies that transform “Suíça Pernambucana” into a “village”. To this end, I establish theoretical dialogues with the fields of Indigenous History (ALMEIDA, 2013; ARRUTI, 1995; MONTEIRO, 2022), the History of women and gender relations (PERROT, 2005; RAGO, 1998; SCOTT), in addition to aspects which I will call critical feminist epistemologies of Abya Yala (AIMARÁ PAREDES, 2014; LUGONES, 2020; SEGATO, 2021). Regarding methodological aspects, I sought support in the interface between evidentiary-based microhistory (GINZBURG, 1989; REVEL, 1998), oral history (ALBERTI, 2013; MEIHY, 1996) and critical epistemologies arising from the intellectual production of indigenous women (SMITH, 2018) who aim to decolonize research instruments. The perspective of indigenous protagonism, developed by Indigenous History, as well as the notion of power, taken from gender studies, combined with the critique of colonialism, originating from the feminisms of Abya Yala, were fundamental to the analysis, as they allowed us to understand the movement by which women indigenous women star in their stories; in cities, they not only inhabit, but also fill it with meanings. The sources consulted, although fragmented, are abundant, in the documentary scope there are academic productions, interviews, letters, journalistic texts, autobiographies, literary works, images, statistical data, etc.