Kiriri indigenous school education

brief considerations on (inter and intra) ethnic dynamics

Abstract

The present work deals with indigenous school education among the Kiriri people, located in a territory of 12,320 hectares between the municipalities of Banzaê and Quijingue, Bahia. The education, from the perspective of its integration among the Kiriri people, was a fundamental tool for the reaffirmation of ethnic identity and configured itself as a “frontier” space. The objective of this work was to deepen the understanding of the articulations between indigenous Kiriri school education, its political situation, marked by internal splitting processes, and the inter and intraethnic dynamics of distinction and identity affirmation in the distinct Kiriri groups. The article was based on an ethnographic research conducted in the indigenous territory over the years 2016 to 2018, with a strong focus on the analysis of interviews of interlocutors linked to indigenous school education. By way of a more in-depth conclusion to the present work, the importance of indigenous school as a stage for the manifestation of political divergences and intra-ethnic disputes in the Kiriri people is presented.