Owners, Intruders and Intermediaries: the Claim for Lands within the Mbyá-Guaraní Community (Valley of Cuñapirú, Misiones, Argentina)

MARTÍNEZ, MARÍA ROSA; CRIVOS, MARTA; TEVES, LAURA

Land Rights, Ethno-nationality, and Sovereignty in History.

Routledge

Lugar: London-New York; Año: 2004; p. 347 - 357

Paranaense forest is the area inhabited by the Mbyá. From pre and post-Hispanic times to the present day, the Guaraní-Mbyá ethnic groups have been characterised by their broad mobility. Even if restrictions are gradually greater, small groups of people move from one place to another along the present territories of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina developing traditional life strategies. The subsistence activities of these communities are basically carried out in the ´monte´. This ecosystem, characterised by a rich bio-diversity, has allowed them to develop their economic activities over time: hunting, fishing, harvesting and clearing and burning agriculture. The colonisation of this region, established from different perspectives and pursuing different aims and exploitation strategies, has restricted and modified the area, affecting its characteristics and consequently the aboriginal lifestyle. Timber exploitation and agriculturists? embarking on harvesting tea, yerba mate, tobacco and tung, started to move forward over these territories, to the detriment of the land where the Mbyá ethnic groups are settled. The discursive material provided by the ethnographic studies carried out in two communities Mbyá-Guaraní -Kaaguy Poty and Yvy Pytã- since 1996 allows us to deeply examine the meaning aborigines assign to the land. In the context of the interviews, male youngsters and adults spontaneously and recurrently show their concern for the recognition and possession of the lands, which they believe belong to the communities established in the premises of Universidad Nacional de La Plata, where a Multipurpose Reservation has been created.