Songs of life against governments of death: the kanhgág tỹnh and the Acampamento Terra Livre

Abstract

This article addresses indigenous political movements and actions based on the ethnography of expressive practices of a Kaingang collective called Nẽn Ga. These practices, described by the Kaingang as rituals [tỹnh], include songs, dances, body painting, ornaments, and are essential for holding festivals, which are linked to retaken movements and to indigenous struggle. It is proposed that indigenous mobilizations, as well as kanhgág festivals/rituals – of wich Kiki’s funeral celebration stands out – produce movements of distancing and approximation, construction and deconstruction of bonds, promoted largely due to the experience of singing-dancing together and mobilizing against common enemies. The annual Acampamento Terra Livre and other mobilization events are essential for renewing alliances between diverse groups and peoples, who unite especially against deadly governments. The existence of Apib, the largest network of the contemporary national indigenous movement, is, therefore, inseparable from these meetings, from face-to-face struggles, which are sung, moved by painted and rhythmic bodies.