Os indígenas Pankará, o Rio São Francisco e a barragem de Itaparica (Luiz Gonzaga): movimentos identitários e relações socioambientais no Semiárido pernambucano (1940-2010).

Abstract

This Thesis addressed the Pankará indigenous presence in the Arapuá and Cacaria Mountains (Carnaubeira da Penha, PE), in Serrote dos Campos (Nova Itacuruba, PE), the relationships with the inhabited environments related to the São Francisco river and the flows of sociocultural exchanges between diverse ethnic groups in the region, located in the Semiarid region, in the so-called hinterland of Itaparica, in the Submédio São Francisco, on the border between Pernambuco and Bahia. The Pankará inhabitants of Serra do Arapuá started the process of indigenous affirmation in 2003, mobilized by the guarantee of territorial rights, education and specific health. The relative inhabitants of the urban area of Nova Itacuruba mobilized in 2007 for ethnic recognition, occupying an area in the rural region, in Serrote dos Campos, ancient place of ritual and route of the Pankará when they descended the Serra do Arapuá to the banks and islands of the São Francisco river going to carry out agricultural plantations or work on farms, survival activities in periods of drought. They also crossed the São Francisco river at various times of the year to participate in rituals with the Tuxá indigenous people, inhabitants of Velha Rodelas. We seek to understand the mobilizations of the Pankará and other ethnic groups in search of recognition by the SPI, between the 1940s and 1960s. With the construction of the Itaparica Dam (currently Luiz Gonzaga lake) between the 1970s and 1980s, in addition to the socio-environmental impacts, there was a disruption in seasonal migration flows, agricultural practices, labor and rituals on the banks and islands of the São Francisco River and new processes of ethnic emergencies of indigenous and quilombolas, resettled in Nova Itacuruba, PE, and in the Brígida Irrigation Perimeter (Orocó, PE). Based on research in various documentary sources such as Chesf reports and the SPI collection, in addition to the oral memories of the indigenous people, we sought to discuss the indigenous, interethnic and environmental relations and identity assertions, in view of government undertakings for the supposed progress and impacts environmental issues in the region, specifically for the Pankará indigenous people.