Historia y territorio entre los guarani de mato grosso do sul, Brasil

Abstract

This article starts from our investigations on the territorial organization of the contemporary Guaraní in the South end of the brazilian State of Mato Grosso do Sul. The aim of the research was to describe and to understand the construction of native categories in a neo-colonial situation. Indian peoples are put under domination by the State, that imposes a set of land tenure rules alien to Guarani historical patterns. For a better understanding of those processes we try to reconstruct the historical stages of the contact between Indians and white men, profiting from documentary sources and native accounts.