POVOS INDÍGENAS: MULTICULTURALISMO E RECONHECIMENTO

Abstract

For many years, indigenous peoples have been the target of a civilization attempt, resulting in their oppression, through an ethnic discrimination, living in a complex and difficult circumstance, which is characterized by situations of poverty and exclusion, where the cultural ethos is not recognized, consequently destructing the original cultural identity of these peoples. In contemporary society, with the ongoing process of globalization, where the prominence of economic development is unleashed over the other dimensions of social life, instead of bringing to light a scenario of cooperation and dialogue between different countries, peoples and cultures, it threatens to constitute a monologue and cultural imposition, urging the need of recognizing the characteristics of each cultural space. In this sense, the proposal is to reflect on the perspectives of indigenous cultures that are strongly disrupted by the unique thinking that was imposed all over the world, which, to be legitimized, uses legal and moral arguments to defend certain universal values. A stereotyped image of indigenous peoples has been established, as if they were an obstacle for the development of our societies, arising an attempt at cultural hegemony. Social conflicts are increasingly related to issues of differences recognition that figure in a highlight position when it comes about the fights for multiculturalism, where one seeks to promote universal respect for shared humanity and esteem for different cultures due to their specificities. The recognition policy that will be discussed works together with the redistribution policies, where one does not replace or exclude the other, in order to stimulate the interaction between differences and protection of human rights, otherwise, the forces that promote inequality and oppression would be reenforced, rather than acting towards the recognition of indigenous peoples.