From infant to sage: mobilizing images of indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon

Prior to the 1980s, indigenous activism in Brazil was primarily a local affair, as indigenous communities sought to defend their traditional lands from the encroachment of cattle ranchers, land speculators and large-scale development projects. However, over the course of the 1980s these local land-use conflicts came to take on major international significance. As concern for the state of the global environment gained momentum in international policy discussions, many indigenous rights activists strategically recast their claims in environmentalist terms. What was previously seen as a conflict over land use or human rights violations was suddenly perceived as a pressing environmental issue—that of deforestation and the subsequent loss of biodiversity. In this way, Indian struggles for self-determination, land rights and cultural survival very rapidly came to be seen by northern audiences as intimately tied to the fate of the rainforest. As a result, a complex network of ‘partnerships,’ ‘alliances’ and information exchange emerged between local Amazonian communities and international environmentalists, which began to challenge the developmentalist policies of international lending institutions and the Brazilian state. These transnational alliances have been instrumental in directing international attention to the plight of indigenous peoples. However, they may ultimately misrepresent the priorities of Amazonian communities.