Territory and identity in the poetry of Brazilian indegenous women

Abstract

Poetry written in Portuguese by Brazilian indigenous women is a recent literary phenomenon whose role is proving fundamental in the construction of a common indigenous identity. In this article we aim to analyze the relationships that the authors, settled mostly in large cities, establish between contemporary indigenous identity and the territories where they live. The methodology used is qualitative. Thus, starting from a representative sample of poetry written by these women, we selected the poems in which the relationships between identity and the territory about which these poets write are most clearly reflected. After its analysis, it has been possible to appreciate how these relationships are configured around two central ideas: the rootedness and the uprooting of the poetic subject with respect to her territory, both real and imaginary. The research carried out allows us to conclude that, for indigenous women authors, poetry is a banner in their identity claims against the state and society. However, the fact that the ancestral territory of their ancestors is not present leads them to a construction of their indigenous identity that is detached from that territory and from the urban physical space in which they live.