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Dona Salete e o ofício de parteira entre os Xukuru-Kariri

Abstract

Officially recognized in 1952, the Xukuru Kariri people, inhabiting Palmeira dos Índios, municipality of the Semiarid/Agreste region of Alagoas, was awarded the acquisition of a strip of land by the then Indian Protection Service (SPI) for the formation of Aldeia Fazenda Canto . From 1979, due to territorial insufficiency and other political processes, the indigenous people mobilized to retake a property considered sacred that was under the possession of the Municipality of Palmeira dos Índios, known as Mata da Cafurna. In the meantime of state recognition and territorial retakes that took place in the last decades of the 20th century, the indigenous Maria da Salete Souza, known as Salete Santana and “Dona” Salete, currently living in the Mata da Cafurna village, worked as a midwife for many years until being hired to work formally by the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), helping parturients. The trajectory of “Dona” Salete was marked by several occupations among the Xukuru Kariri, as, in addition to having worked in an extremely important role for the good birth of the new indigenous people, she formed groups to fight against thugs and gunmen hired by farmers to prevent the advance of land repossessions, so important to enable the permanence of new newborn members among the people. In this way, interweaving the different actions of "Dona" Salete with official records will allow us to understand the internal intricacies of the State's actions among the Xukuru Kariri and the need to reconquer territories invaded by squatters and farmers interested in expanding agriculture and land concentration , symbols of power and strengthening of political alliances in the interior of Alagoas.