The trunk, the branch and the seed: Jiripankó Indigenous People; land and territorialities
State of Alagoas; Jiripankó Indigenous People; semiarid; Land; Territorialities
The Jiripankó indigenous people live in the semi-arid of the State of Alagoas in a small area of 215 hectares, officially demarcated in 1992, neighboring the of Pariconha city (Alagoas), Jatobá and Tacaratu cities (Pernambuco). According to Indigenous Health Care Information System/Special Department for Indigenous Health (SIASI/SESAI, 2014), the population is estimated at 1757 inhabitants. The Jiripankó constituted their ethnic and territorial distinctiveness from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, when migratory movements of Pankararu family groups intensified towards the semi-arid region of Alagoas. Currently, the Jiripankó are struggling to expand the demarcation of their lands, which are occupied by small and large farmers. The focus of this work is to understand the Jiripankó notions of land and territorialities, the particular ways of experiencing and giving meaning to conflicts and arbitrarily imposed territorial limits, managing and re-signifying social spaces.