CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE XUKURU DO ORORUBA: THINKING THE RIGHT TO DIFFERENCE AND INDIGENOUS DIGNITY IN THE NORTHEAST OF BRAZIL

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Abstract

The reflections presented place indigenous childhood and adolescence in a historical perspective, based on the interrelationships between families, experiences, sociocultural expressions, organizations, mobilizations and claims for rights by indigenous peoples. Especially the demarcated territories guaranteeing a good life in the Northeast of Brazil, one of the oldest regions of portuguese colonization in the country. Observing the trajectory of the boy Gercino Balbino da Silva born in 1924, in Aldeia Cana Brava, one of the many locations in Serra do Ororubá (Pesqueira/PE), we seek to understand the childhood and adolescence of Xukuru do Ororubá. At the time, the lands of the former settlement in the Semi-arid region, declared extinct at the end of the 19th century, were invaded by farmers, cattle ranchers and owners of sugar mills in the swamp areas. Without land to live and plant, Gercino's parents went to live in another location in the Serra do Ororubá, with the boy's grandparents working “in rent” for a local farmer. Since he was a child, Gercino faced a difficult life. At the age of eight, with his family, he worked on the “hoe handle”, earning half the daily rate paid to an adult. With the corn still green, the farmer released the cattle into the plantation, destroying the field. Since he was a child, accompanying family members, he participated in the annual Toré ritual held in Vila de Cimbres. And a teenager was chosen to succeed an elderly indigenous man, playing an important role in the ritual. Young migrated with relatives to work in the sugarcane plantation, participated in the mobilizations and conquest of the demarcation of the indigenous territory.