Daniela Fernandes Alarcon

How have the Tupinamb’ of Serra do Padeiro (Tupinamb’ de Oliven’a Indigenous Territory, southern Bahia, Brazil) mobilized to defend their territory and collective projects in the face of rampant violations of rights and anti-Indigenous policies under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro? This project focuses on action taken by the community between 2018 and 2022. The investigation is part of a broader strategy laid out by the Tupinamb’ of Serra do Padeiro, aimed at documenting the history of their contemporary struggle from their own perspectives. Despite being heavily targeted by criminalization, paramilitary attacks, and police brutality, since 2004 they have used direct action to recover a significant portion of their territory, located in one of the few remaining patches of the Atlantic Forest. From the end of the 19th century onwards, that land had been turned by non-Indians into cocoa farms and resorts. Rooted in their territory, engaged in the broader Indigenous movement, and connected to both their ancestors and non-human entities, the Tupinamb’ have forged ways of living well. Combining archival research and ethnographic fieldwork, we aim to collaborate to deepen an anthropological understanding of forms of Indigenous resistance and to counter worsening anti-Indigenous policies and discourses.