O direito a um passado na luta para existir no presente: disputas pela memória indígena nas escritas da História do Rio Grande do Norte (1994-2021)

Abstract

In June 2005, in the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Norte, the existence of indigenous peoples in that state became public. However, this fact came into conflict with the narratives consolidated by the classical local historiography, which admitted a disappearance of these ethno-cultural identities in the state. In view of this, the objective of this research was to investigate how the memory of the indigenous disappearance in Rio Grande do Norte after the process of ethnic emergence of indigenous peoples in the state has been faced in the writings of the history of this state, and to identify the main ruptures and remains in these narratives throughout the period from 1994 to 2021. This issue is formed from the understanding that history books are places of memory (Nora, 1993), and that in these spaces there are disputes that are fought respecting the consolidation of a memory that meets certain political and social interests (Assmann, 2011; Chesneaux, 1995; Krenak, 1999; Menget, 1999). To do so, the Content Analysis (Bardin, 1977) is appropriated as a methodology and it is established two sets of sources to be investigated: the production of Regional History textbooks and the writings of the Indigenous History of RN prepared in the academic context, covering History and Anthropology works. In this sense, one can see permanence in the ways of narrating the history of RN, such as the significant concentration of indigenous history in the Colonial Period, mainly taking into account the influence of the local classical historiography and school tradition. However, it was also possible to identify ruptures that aim to meet demands posed by the indigenous movement, such as the recognition of the existence of current indigenous peoples in the state, the production of research that prioritizes addressing indigenous agency and the work with oral memory from communities, mostly carried out in the area of Anthropology. It was concluded that these are important achievements to remedy the damage caused by the memory of the indigenous disappearance in Rio Grande do Norte and an attempt was made to reflect on which paths can be followed to continue the construction of another history in the state.