Indigenous Labor and Land Resources: Guarani–Kaiowa’s Politico–Economic and Ethnic Challenges

• Published in: Resources (Basel) 2020-07, Vol.9 (7), p.84
• Main Author: Ioris, Antonio A. R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aggression; agrarian disputes; Agribusiness; Brazil; Capitalism; Colonialism; Cultural differences; Economics; Empirical analysis; Ethnicity; Exploitation; Indigenous peoples; Labor; land conflicts; land grabbing; Land management; Land resources; Mass murders; Mato Grosso do Sul; Minority & ethnic groups; Native peoples; Native rights; Political economy; Politics; Power; Private property; Refugees; Regional development; Resource management; Trends; Violence
• ISSN: 2079-9276; 2079-9276
• DOI: 10.3390/resources9070084

The article deals with the meaning and the management of land-based resources by indigenous peoples, which are analyzed through an assessment of the lived spaces of the Guarani–Kaiowa indigenous people in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The discussion follows an analytical framework that is focused on land, labor and ethnicity. These interconnected politico-economic categories provide the basis for understanding the violence and exploitation perpetrated against indigenous groups, as well as their capacity to reclaim ancestral territories lost to extractivism and agribusiness development. Empirical results indicate that ethnicity is integral to labor and land management processes. In the case of the Guarani–Kaiowa, not only have they become refugees in their own lands due to racist discrimination, but also their labor has been incorporated in the regional economy through interrelated peasantification and proleterianization tendencies. The result is a complex situation that combines major socio-spatial asymmetries with the strategic, exploitative use of land and labor and the growing political contestation by the indigenous groups.