Geography and Indigenous Peoples: Milton Santos and the Richness of the Present Time

Abstract

Brazil is a country of significant sociocultural diversity where multiple, sometimes opposing and often conflicting, world views coexist. Most indigenous peoples now inhabit villages in the almost 700 Indigenous Lands already legally constituted or in the process of being recognized and legalized. One of the main issues for these peoples today is their struggle for official recognition of their traditional territories. Most of the Indigenous Lands that have already been demarcated are in the north of the country, especially the Amazon. However, there are indigenous groups living on far smaller lands in every other region of the country where serious territorial conflicts occur. Importantly, the survival of indigenous people in high-value areas is still jeopardized even after their lands are legalized in the form of Indigenous Lands. When their lands are limited to small areas surrounded by deforested land and single-crop farming, their ability to pursue traditional economic activities is curtailed. This chapter explores the work of Milton Santos-especially his concepts of geographical space, used territory, slow people and opaque spaces-with respect to current conflicts over Indigenous Lands. The profound relationship the author establishes between the different actors and technical systems enables an in-depth understanding of the plurality of ways space is constructed in Brazil today. His ideas also allow us to perceive and recognize the wealth of potential ways of living in the present time. In the contemporary moment it is the slow people who can create promising alternatives to the perverseness of globalization and the single discourse prevailing in the world.