Terena migrations to the outside of Campo Grande (MS)

the maintenance of traditional relationships in urban contexts

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the spatial displacement of a small group of Terena indigenous people from villages in the interior of Mato Grosso do Sul to a peripheral neighborhood of the capital of that state - Campo Grande -, called the borough of Jardim Inápolis, and also investigates strategies for adaptation to the new environment that include the maintenance of kinship and cronyism networks that link people within that group according to traditional ethnic patterns. The analysis is based on information obtained from an extensive bibliographic survey of works written about the Terena, linked to information produced in the field from direct observations and conversations with leaders of two indigenous families living in the community in question. In the end, it is perceived in this case the maintenance of traditional practices of socio-spatial organization and kinship relations typical of Terena adapted to the urban context and the emergence of a process of territorialization strengthened by elaborations and cultural resignifications that operate as markers of ethnic identity in contrast to the surrounding society.