Indigenous and indigenista policies on the Continent of São Pedro in the second half of the 18th century

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyse the ways in wich indigenous policies were seen and praticed by historical subjects related to the formation and maintenance of two indigenous villages in the second half of the 18th century. The indigenous people, the colonial authorities and the surrounding society have established conflicts and alliances around the assimilationist guidelines from the Directory of Indians and the context of establishing borders in the platinum region. The administrative documentation analyzed comes from the Historical Archive of Rio Grande do Sul, the National Archive of Rio de Janeiro, the National Library of Lisbon and the National Library of Rio de Janeiro. There were different strategies and political positions taken to promote social integration, some of them including violence, both by the indigenous people living in São Nicolau do Rio Pardo and Nossa Senhora dos Anjos, and by colonial and private authorities. The choice possibilities were not equitable, but some of them, made in extreme situations, were important in the processes of cultural appropriation and, therefore, in the processes of social formation and reworking of identities in the Continent.