Does the Xingu Avenge Diacuí? Alterity in an Interethnic Marriage (1940-1953).
Alterity; interethnic marriage; indigenous; Diacuí; Xingu.
The present study aims to understand how alterity manifested in the interethnic marriage of Diacuí Kalapalo, an Indigenous person from the Alto Xingu region, and Ayres Câmara Cunha, a sertanista (backwoodsman/pioneer) who provided services to the Central Brazil Foundation, an agency linked to the Indian Protection Service. During the 1940s and 1950s, interethnic contact between the Alto Xingu peoples and non-Indigenous Brazilians intensified due to the promotion of a national interiorization project called the Roncador-Xingu Expedition. The occupation of these areas facilitated the encounter between Ayres and Diacuí, leading them to maintain constant contact. This resulted in a romantic involvement between them and fostered a peaceful relationship between the expedition members and the Alto Xingu groups. The sertanista's subsequent desire to marry the Kalapalo Indigenous woman generated controversies between the Indian Protection Service, an indigenist agency, and public opinion, unfolding into widespread popular commotion in favor of the marriage. The proposed investigation was based on analyses of documentation produced by Ayres, such as his autobiography, reports from the newspaper Diário da Noite (RJ), and Indigenous testimonies collected by ethnographers. Through ethnohistory, it was possible to access the past of interethnic contact between the Indigenous peoples of the Xingu and non-Indigenous Brazilians, aiding in the understanding of Alto Xingu values and in the historical construction of interethnic interactions in that region.