From Developmentalist Propaganda to Freedom Claim. The political use of the indigenous question during the civil-military dictatorship in Brazil

Abstract

The indigenous question in Brazil has its own symbology that goes deep into the roots of the national narrative and story of self-representation. Many times, along the XX century was used with different governmental objectives of propaganda and auto promotion, resource that reached at is maximum during the civil-military dictatorship born in 1964. This paper analyzed the use of the indigenous question during this period from the study of the press, institutional and social organizations publications and with the political speeches made in the Câmara dos Deputados. It seems that the military government made an intense propaganda around the indigenist policy to hide the cruelty of the Amazon occupation. This discourse was fought back for the regime opposition that, aiming the support of the indigenous people, turn the indigenous question in an ideological battle where the indigenous represents the Brazilian society desires of freedom and democracy. This symbolic wage impacted the struggle of the indigenous people, adapting to the new representation born from this political use.