Yanomami Territoriality versus Military Geopolitics: Competing Narratives in the Demarcation of the Yanomami Indigenous Land

Abstract

This article examines the competing narratives surrounding the demarcation process of the Yanomami Indigenous Land (TIY), ratified in 1992. The process was marked by a confrontation between different conceptions of territorial occupation. On the one hand, there was the claim for a large and contiguous area to maintain and preserve Yanomami traditions and territorial dynamics. On the other, there was a geopolitical-military perspective that emerged with the founding of the Escola Superior de Guerra (ESG) in 1949, was consolidated through the National Security Doctrine (NSD), and was later taken up by the Calha Norte Project (1985), which viewed the Yanomami presence as an obstacle to the security and development of the Amazon. Based on an analysis of the ESG Basic Manual, documents produced by the General Secretariat of the National Security Council (SG/CSN), and a bibliographic review of the territorial dynamics of Yanomami communities, this article seeks to understand the conceptions underlying these different narratives and to analyze how they were mobilized throughout the demarcation process of the Yanomami Indigenous Land.