Pindorama, the Brazil from the 1500s and the living culture of the Pataxó I

The Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs

A Conversation with Indigenous Leader Arassari Pataxó on Expansion, Exploration, and Resistance

Florida International University, Graham Center(GC) 150

Arassari Pataxó is a leader, teacher, and spokesperson of the Pataxó People from the Barra Velha Territory in the state of Bahia, Brazil. He has a degree in Law from the Estácio de Sá University in Rio de Janeiro. He coordinates the Pedagogical Project “Indigenous day is every day”. The Pataxós today are the ninth most populous indigenous people in Brazil, with more than 23 thousand individuals divided into many villages located in three different states: Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. The name “Pataxó” cannot be translated, it comes from the sound of sea water when the water hits the land and makes “pa-ta-xóóóóó”. They speak Portuguese and the indigenous language Patxhohã which means warrior language. 

Arassari Pataxó defines himself as “a warrior who fights for respect and for the rights of Indigenous peoples in Brazil”. Through Indigenous leadership, as a representative of the Pataxó ethnic group in southern Bahia, Arassari wants to open the world’s eyes to the importance of keeping the Indigenous peoples in the forest, on their land, showing how they respect and live with it. His village is located in the south of Bahia, in the municipality of Porto Seguro, within the Monte Pascoal National Park. This is the location where the Portuguese invaders first landed in Brazil, and established the first contact with the Pataxó Indigenous people.

Pindorama, the Brazil from the 1500s and the living culture of the Pataxó I

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Pindorama, the Brazil from the 1500s and the living culture of the Pataxó I

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