Racism against indigenous peoples: main agents and forms of manifestations (from 2003 to 2022)

Abstract

Racism against indigenous peoples is a phenomenon of increasing notoriety, given the reports and analyses indicating how people in various socio-cultural contexts are affected. This work aims to create a general framework for this phenomenon by analysing episodes of racism gathered in the reports on "Violence against Indigenous Peoples," a series of publications by the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI). With volumes released annually, the reports compile cases since 2003, totalling 362 occurrences in the 20 years of the survey. The work consisted of reading, analysing, and systematizing the cases, and identifying the characters and contexts involved in these acts. Although these episodes do not represent the entirety of racist practices perpetrated against indigenous peoples, such occurrences allow us to glimpse the main agents, locations of occurrence, and forms of manifestation of this phenomenon, enabling us to determine which peoples have suffered racist actions, as well as which agents perpetrated them and in which locations and/or relational contexts. Additionally, we sought to investigate the main forms assumed by racist actions, relating these manifestations to the agents and situations previously identified. These data have shown in which ways racism is not an episodic occurrence but constitutes a structuring element of the social relations experienced by indigenous peoples in Brazil. These relations can spread across various socio-cultural contexts, as they manifest the prevalence of colonial relations.