Rethinking Amerindian spaces in Brazilian history

We are grateful to the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2012-699 and SG132847 2014-2015) for funding.This special issue on Amerindian spaces is the result of a workshop held at the University of St. Andrews, UK, in June 2015. We asked participants to examine key concepts related to spatial history, such as borderlands, frontiers, and territories, by looking at them through alliances and rebellions involving Amerindians and the colonial and independent states in Latin America.1 Our aim was to gain a continental understanding of Indian political geography that went beyond European territorial divisions. This purpose continues into the present issue with its focus on the internal and international frontiers of Brazil and how they relate to spaces of indigenous collective action. The articles here reexamine areas that have been considered peripheral in Brazilian historiography, placing the emphasis on indigenous history and society. These spaces proved surprisingly impervious to the imposition of external authority, but each space has its own history that cannot be solely defined by the internal and external frontiers of Brazilian colonial and national expansion. Equally, these indigenous spaces influenced policy and practice, as governments sought to exert control over native labor and advance land settlement for colonists. Our choice for a spatial perspective forces an examination of a regionally connected system of social groups and the environments in which people lived, and which they sought to protect and defend. As a result, we go beyond place, territory, and frontier as concepts and use the term space to invoke a direct and holistic relationship with the larger spheres in which people move and act.PostprintPeer reviewe

Os limites das capitanias hereditárias do sul e o conceito de território

Analisam-se os limites das capitanias do sul (1534-1700), chegando a interessantes conclusões. As terras da Capitania de Santana, em função da estimativa que se faça para a longitude de Tordesilhas, ou pertenciam à Espanha ou formavam pequenas parcelas descontínuas. O limite norte da Capitania de São Tomé (Pero de Góis), definido por acordo entre os dois confrontantes, afetava um terceiro território, coisa que não se percebeu. O limite sul dessa capitania na carta de doação indicava uma linha correndo diretamente para oeste, enquanto que na de seu vizinho (Martim Afonso) indicava uma linha correndo a noroeste. Essa mesma direção também está definida para o limite sul desse lote, complicando a partição das terras. Essas fronteiras artificiais nunca foram demarcadas nem tidas em conta, e tanto os donatários como a Coroa foram criando vilas e cidades em terreno alheio: umas vezes por não levar em conta os limites das cartas de doação (São Paulo, Santana de Parnaíba, Mogi das Cruzes, São Sebastião, Taubaté, Paranaguá, por exemplo); outras por ocupação indevida, mas necessária (Rio de Janeiro); por dolo ou extrapolação de poderes (Cabo Frio); ou mesmo em terras de Castela (Curitiba). A isso veio somar-se a questão de jurisdição sobre a Capitania de Santo Amaro (a querela entre as casas de Monsanto e Vimieiro); a questão da extrapolação de jurisdição (Angra dos Reis e Paraty); e finalmente a má-fé e as tropelias de juízes, capitães-gerais e da Coroa. O entendimento dessas questões, facilitada pela cartografia histórica, permitiu revelar pontos desconhecidos da história das capitanias, explicar melhor a formação dos limites dos atuais Estados e aprofundar-se no entendimento dos conceitos da época para indicar o território: termo, sertões, fundos e outros.We analyze the limits of the southern Captaincies (1534-1700), reaching interesting conclusions. The Terras de Santana Captaincy, depending on the estimate of the longitude of the Tordesillas line, or belonged to Spain or are formed by small discrete portions. The northern limit of the Captaincy of São Tomé (Pero de Gois) defined by agreement between the two neighbors affected a third territory, something that was not perceived. The southern boundary of this Captaincy in the Donation Letter indicated a line running directly to the west, while in his neighbor Letter (Martim Afonso) indicated a line running northwest. This same direction is also set to the southern limit of that lot, complicating the partition of the lands. These artificial boundaries have never been demarcated or taken into account, and both the donatories, as the crown, were creating towns and cities in foreign land: sometimes for not taking into account the limits of the Donation Letters (São Paulo, Santana de Parnaiba, Mogi das Cruzes, São Sebastião, Taubaté, Paranaguá, for example); others by improper occupation, even when necessary (Rio de Janeiro); intentionally or extrapolation of powers (Cabo Frio); or even in the land of Castile (Curitiba). To this has added up the question of jurisdiction over the Captaincy of Santo Amaro (the quarrel between the houses of Monsanto and Vimieiro); the question of extrapolation jurisdiction (Angra dos Reis and Paraty) and finally the bad faith and mischief of judges, general captains and the crown. The understanding of these issues, facilitated by historical cartography, allows us to understand unknown point of the history of the captaincies; a better explain of the formation of the limits of current States and a deeper the understanding of the concepts of that time to indicate the territory: termo, sertão (hinterlands), fundos (funds) and others

Canibalismo e a legitimidade da guerra justa na época da Independência

RESUMO No início do século XIX, os esforços do Estado português para dominar os povos indígenas independentes se concentraram na Mata Atlântica que ligava o leste de Minas Gerais ao litoral. O presente artigo atribui aos nativos a contenção das tendências mais violentas desse projeto, depois que a Coroa portuguesa lhes declarou guerra em 1808. Acusados de canibalismo, os índios Botocudo, entre outros, enfrentaram o extermínio. Depois de muitos anos, contudo, a Coroa passou a adotar uma política de incentivo à troca material com esses caçadores e coletores. Essa reviravolta foi uma resposta à capacidade dos nativos de evitar a conquista mediante uma combinação eficaz de contra-ataques, recuos e, acima de tudo, de comprometimento estratégico com os invasores coloniais, o que levou à dispersão do conflito. Ao convencer alguns funcionários quanto à sua humanidade, os índios debilitaram a política bélica da Coroa, mesmo quando enfrentaram outra ameaça à sua sobrevivência - a crescente violência privada

Locating the 'Inner'

The notion of a mental interior has been derided as a Cartesian relic, the 'ghost in the machine' (Ryle, 1963). Yet there is a mental interior — indeed, there are two — only not where we tend to look. When a toddler talks to herself before sleep, she often plays the part of a parent toward herself, mitigating the dread of separation. She thus creates a pretend space between herself-as-parent and herself-as-child. Growing up, she plays others toward herself as well. She and her simulated interlocutors are experienced by her as an expanded self with an inside, namely the place of inner speech. This pretend space is the first non-bodily interior. The second develops as a consequence. The simulated others diminish the dependence on actual others, who therefore cease to appear in their former importance. One yearns for them as they were, but the yearning is blocked — and banished from awareness — by dread of reverting to the earlier dependence. This second interior is the space between the unconscious self and the full kind of other for whom it yearns. The yearning enters conscious life indirectly and unthreateningly, for example in the fictive frame of art and in the relational frame of conversation.</jats:p