CEstA Dupla with Ana Carolina Beserra da Silva and Laura Pereira Furquim
March 20, 2026, at 5:30 PM
Ana Carolina Beserra da Silva
Ana holds a bachelor's degree and teaching certification in history and recently completed her master's degree in the Postgraduate Program in Social History (PPGHS/USP), with research focused on documents produced by the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of the Rio Negro (Foirn), in their struggle for territory in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. She is a researcher affiliated with the Center for Mesoamerican, Amazonian, and Andean Studies (CEMAA) and is part of the team at the Training Center of the Museum of Indigenous Cultures of SP (MCI).
Territorializations in Dispute: Strategies of an Indigenous Federation in the Twilight of the Civil-Military Dictatorship in the Rio Negro Region
In this presentation, I address the field of History and the visibility of Indigenous action strategies through the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of the Rio Negro (Foirn), founded in 1987 in a context of territorial disputes in the Amazon. The Calha Norte Project, developed since 1985 by the National Security Council, aimed at the occupation and supposed development of the region, with the implementation of military and productive infrastructure. This occupation occurred concomitantly with the advance of large mining companies and was committed to the demobilization of the pre-existing Salesian missionary structure. As a strategy of articulation and resistance against the military project, Foirn appropriated the lexicon linked to fundamental rights enshrined in the 1988 Constitution and categories of the environmental movement in pursuit of its objectives of recognition of the right to territory. To this end, she built networks of alliances with non-governmental organizations, claimed the recognition of Indigenous Lands, and sought autonomy and self-sufficiency through projects that value Indigenous knowledge, generate income, and manage and protect territory.
Laura Pereira Furquim
Laura holds a bachelor's degree in History, a doctorate in Archaeology from USP, and is a postdoctoral researcher at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG). Throughout her career, she has sought to integrate historical sources and archaeobotanical and organic waste analyses to address topics such as the beginning of plant cultivation, the relationship between management practices and forms of sociality, pre-colonial food systems, and the impacts of European colonization on Indigenous food security. Through ceramics and archaeological plants, she seeks to understand the relationships between people, and between people and the forest and the territory. This approach led her to develop collaborations with the Tupi Kagwahiva indigenous people in the Southwestern Amazon, where she also works in dialogue with Ethno-environmental Protection Fronts (FPE/FUNAI), applying archaeological methods to broaden the understanding of the history and lifestyles of isolated indigenous populations. Currently, she is conducting research on fermented foods and beverages in Ancient Amazonia, in collaboration with the projects “Embiara: cosmologies and techniques in Indigenous Amazonia” (UFAM) and “Voices of Indigenous Amazonia: historical processes of socio-biodiversity facing the challenges of the Anthropocene” (MPEG).
Archaeologies of non-contact in territories occupied by “isolated” peoples in the Amazon: the case of the Katawixi bakery
This presentation addresses the archaeology of non-contact in territories occupied by indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation in the Amazon, based on the study of the so-called “Katawixi bakery”. This work investigates material remains associated with the production of traditional indigenous breads found in recent forest contexts, interpreted as part of the food practices and territorial mobility of groups that avoid permanent relationships with the surrounding society. Using archaeological, ethnohistorical, and archaeobotanical approaches, it discusses how these food remains reveal knowledge systems, fermentation techniques, and forms of landscape management that remain active outside the networks of colonial and state contact. In dealing with these records, the archaeology of non-contact also faces ethical and methodological challenges, seeking to produce knowledge without compromising the autonomy and security of these peoples. The Katawixi case demonstrates how archaeology can contribute to materially recognizing the contemporary presence of isolated peoples and supporting the protection of their territories.
In-person activity
Free admission, subject to space limitations
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