Postponing the end of the world: ancestry and activism in the work of Ailton Krenak

Abstract

This paper aims to reflect on indigenous protagonism based on the political and literary contributions of the indigenous author and indigenism activist Ailton Krenak, highlighting the resistance and struggle movements of the native peoples of Brazil. The main moments that marked the history and political-social rise of the indigenous population will be highlighted, from the overcoming of the epistemic violence exercised by Western discourses that made individuals considered “subordinate” invisible (Spivak, 2010), to the constitutional recognition of the indigenous as a legitimate Brazilian citizen, a moment after the promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988, also known as the “Citizen Constitution”. In addition, the importance of language and literature as instruments capable of broadening horizons – aesthetic and political – for these peoples and enabling the dissemination of native culture from the perspective of the indigenous person, now occupying the place of protagonists of their own discourse, will be highlighted.