Ailton Krenak at ABL breaks with the ‘Iracema and Pocahontas’ era at

The appointment of philosopher and writer Ailton Krenak as the first indigenous person at the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL) subverted the subaltern and folklorized indigenous representation in literature and arts that has marked Brazil since the Portuguese invasion.

This is the vision of Edson Kayapó, an indigenous writer and activist, born in Amapá and belonging to the Mebengokré people. He celebrated the existence of Ailton Krenak and other original artists in an exclusive interview with Brazil in factavailable in full below.

“The times of Iracema and Pocahontas, this romanticism that did a disservice to our indigenous peoples in classical literature, will definitely be broken with the historically silenced voices that are part of the ABL today”, stated the writer, who is a historian and doctor in Education.

Edson, who spoke to the reporter from the Barra Velha indigenous land, where he develops projects with the Pataxó people, defended the expansion of indigenous representation not only in the ABL, but in all spaces of Brazilian society: educational institutions, Legislative and Executive powers.

“The ideas for postponing the end of the world, to which Ailton Krenak refers, are established in the experiences, voices and writings of indigenous peoples. We have life experiences that can collaborate in the reconstruction of everything that was destroyed in the name of progress.”

He makes a point of mentioning the relevance of other indigenous people who rose on the literary scene, such as Eliane Potiguara, Graça Graúna and Daniel Munduruku, who competed for the position obtained by Ailton Krenak: “fundamental voices to break with the hegemony of literature that excludes narratives indigenous”.

“Ailton Krenak at ABL means a reparation, it represents a very big advance in the recognition of our knowledge, our own forms of organization and our cosmologies”, says Edson Kayapó, writer awarded by the UNESCO Reading Chair.

Read the full interview:

Brasil de Fato: The “official” literature of Brazil, in general, portrayed indigenous people sometimes in a subordinate place, sometimes in a folklorized and idealized representation. From an aesthetic point of view, is this changing? What can Brazilian literature be like that actually incorporates the indigenous vision in a more democratic way?

Edson Kayapó: I have no doubt that this writing carried out by our people will provoke a change in the aesthetics and form of writing, breaking with the folkloric and subalternizing perspective that canonical literature often attributes to us. This literature transforms us into folklore, into the past, freezes us in the past, in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, talking about the indigenous people who no longer exist.

José de Alencar, with his romanticism, spoke of a docile indigenous person, a domesticated Indian, the indigenous person who shows no resistance against colonizing violence and presents at the end of the narratives the story of the indigenous person who died. The case of Iracema, for example, is the beautiful indigenous woman who died of love for the colonizer. Peri was a handsome boy who loved all aspects of the life of the European colonizers, without showing any resistance.

This narrative has come to an end. And this end will come especially through the voice and writing of indigenous peoples. From this perspective, I say again that Ailton Krenak is a super-authorized voice to speak about this indigenous way or these indigenous ways of thinking and conceiving the world. We are definitely not folklore. This has to be established in the literature. We are people of flesh and blood who live here in the present time and who have all the challenges of historically subordinated groups.

We are indigenous groups that have been in the field of resistance since the 16th century, even fighting against the capitalist mode of production. Because at the end of the day, that’s it. Indigenous peoples were one of the first groups in America, and perhaps in Western history, one of the first groups to say no to capitalism, to the capitalist mode of production, which there, in the 16th century, was called mercantilism. And when the colonizers arrived here, the indigenous people said that they did not want a pact with this mode of production, because it was harmful to life, not only to human life, but to all forms of life.

Edson Kayapó (right) spoke to the BdF of the Barra Velha Indigenous Land, where he develops projects with the Pataxó people / Personal collection/Edson Kayapó

What does Ailton Krenak’s visit to the Brazilian Academy of Letters represent for indigenous writers and readers?

This indication has a deep meaning for us, indigenous peoples. It represents the retaking of our territories in all their forms, whether geographic or symbolic. It is a major advance in our historic struggle.

Despite all the violence practiced against our people by the Brazilian state and society in general, we are resisting and moving forward. The data presented by IBGE in relation to the population count in 2020 shows a growth of almost 80% in the Brazilian indigenous population in relation to 2010 data. Our languages ​​are being revitalized, our territories are being reclaimed and our cosmologies are strengthening.

This advance is also expressed in the field of literature. Ailton Krenak is a warrior who has been in the fighting field for a long time. He was one of the founders of the Union of Indigenous Nations and was the spokesperson for indigenous peoples in the Constituent Assembly, giving a beautiful speech that moved and convinced the constituents to establish the regulations that are present in articles 231 and 232 of the Brazilian Constitution.

It is absolutely fair and legitimate that Ailton Krenak is at the Brazilian Academy of Letters as one of the immortals. For us, indigenous peoples, it is a source of pride and happiness that we are reclaiming this space, just as we will be reclaiming many others. Be they our original territories that were expropriated and will be self-demarcated, or spaces in Brazilian universities and civil society organizations.

This is just the beginning of a struggle and reparation that the Brazilian state and Brazilian society must make in relation to indigenous peoples. I have no doubt that the appointment and inauguration of Ailton Krenak at the Brazilian Academy of Letters represents a reparation and a great advance in the recognition of our knowledge, our own forms of organization and our cosmologies.

Even so, Krenak’s appointment does not mean the solution to a historic deficit of indigenous representation in the ABL…

Without a doubt, and this deficit is glaring. We recognize that it is a deficit and we have no doubt that there is room for greater reparations, not only in the ABL, but in all spaces of Brazilian society.

We need to occupy spaces within universities, as undergraduate and postgraduate students. We need to occupy spaces as professors in higher education institutions, as researchers recognized by research funding agencies. We need to have more representation in parliament and executive powers.

Can Brazilian literature, increasingly indigenous, help “postpone the end of the world”, as the title of a book by Ailton Krenak says?

The ideas for postponing the end of the world, to which Ailton Krenak refers, are established in the experiences, voices and writings of indigenous peoples. We, indigenous peoples, writers, shamans, healers, midwives, hunters, fishermen and indigenous people, have life experiences that can help rebuild everything that was destroyed in the name of progress.

We, indigenous peoples, have a lot to contribute to the reconstruction of everything that was destroyed in the name of progress. There, in the 18th century, a human rationalist logic was thought of that would develop a society of progress and well-being for all. And we are here, in the month of April 2023, in an absolutely disenchanted world, in an anguished world.

We see the destruction of life in all its forms. We see global warming that scares everyone. The climate imbalance that scares humanity in general and that at the same time puts humanity in check, in the sense of making people come together to say that the human development project is wrong, that it is articulated in the wrong way and that it establishes the discussion about the need to rethink this entire trajectory and think about alternative ways of life.

In this sense, indigenous peoples are willing to share their experiences, which are very interesting, as they are forms of organization that establish a respectful dialogue with life. For example, the preserved Amazon is not the Amazon of mining companies, agribusiness or timber companies. In general, the preserved Amazon is the Amazon where indigenous peoples are located.

We are fully prepared for dialogue with Brazilian society and the Brazilian state. But it is important to give a message: if the state and institutions of Brazilian society do not want a respectful dialogue that respects our original rights, we also know and have historically learned to break the doors and assert our rights. This is a message that needs to be given.

But, above all, it is important to say that we are willing to engage in intercultural dialogue in the name of good for everyone, for all of humanity and for all forms of life that are in this place that we call nature.

Editing: Thalita Pires