The The Autonomous Praxis as a Strategy of Resistance among Brazilian Indigenous Socioterritorial Movements: A Panorama of the Years 2020 and 2021 based on DATALUTA Network Brazil Data

Abstract

This article investigates the autonomic strategies mobilized by socio-territorial movements in Brazilian forests in 2020 and 2021, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on indigenous movements. Through the prism of “autonomic praxis,” understood as collective and self-managed political actions aimed at safeguarding socio-territorial and cultural integrity, the research systematizes unpublished data collected by DATALUTA Floresta, one of the databases of the Rede DATALUTA. The actions identified encompass a variety of strategies, such as the creation of territorial vigilance groups, the implementation of autonomous territorial control measures to combat COVID-19, and processes involving the retaking and self-demarcation of territories. These actions demonstrate the agency of socio-territorial movements against external political and economic forces that aim to control, submit, violate, and/or colonize their territories. The research contributes to the understanding of socio-spatial dynamics in the pandemic context, pointing to resistance strategies beyond the state sphere, thus reaffirming the relevance of the autonomic perspective in the struggle for self-determination and territorial control.