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Beholding the Miracle: Xavante Indians and Economic “Development” under Brazilian Military Rule*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
In 1978, the Brazilian military government launched a “community development project” for the Xavante Indians of Mato Grosso (“Projeto Xavante”) to promote mechanized rice production and livestock rearing, and to institute educational and health programs. As the project sought to foster indigenous self-sufficiency, the government Indian bureau, Fundaçaão Nacional do Índio (FUNAI) would deploy a team of technicians, agronomists, educators, and health care officials to train Xavante as agriculturists, machine operators, health care attendants, and bilingual teaching monitors. Under the administration of General Ismarth Araújo de Oliveira, FUNAI initially earmarked CR$8,635,207 for the Xavante Project and established a special coordinating unit in Barra do Garças, Mato Grosso, the Ajudância Autônoma de Barra do Garças (AJABAG).
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 2001
Footnotes
*
This essay is dedicated to the memory of Aracy Lopes da Silva, a wonderful anthropologist and humanist who will be greatly missed by both Xavante and non-Xavante alike. I would like to thank David Sweet and Laura Graham for their helpful suggestions in revising the manuscript. For the first-hand observations on the Xavante Project and the relevant documentation that they generously shared with me, I would like to thank FUNAI officials Luiz Otavio Pinheiro da Cunha, Odenir Pinto de Oliveira, and Claudio Romero.
References
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