This thesis is the result of an ethnographic study about indigenous women from the Tembé
Tenetehara people who live in the Alto Rio Guamá Indigenous Territory (TIARG) in the state
of Para, Brazil. This research draws on fieldwork experiences and observations with cultural
leader Kuzà'i, shaman Francisca, and information about the late chief Veronica Tembe’s life,
who passed away in December 2013. This study uses photography as a tool for interaction and
analysis, creating ethnography through visual anthropology lens. This theoretical and
methodological approach goal was to observe the convergences between verbal and visual
statements that enable us to understand the historically constructed indigenous people identity
production from the coloniality perspective, a concept that diverges from how the indigenous
themselves perceive their daily lives. This study seeks to reflect on the indigenous women
historically constructed symbolic image and analyze this imagistic aspect production that
conflict with the indigenous people perspectives, whose comprehension of themselves differs
considerably from the version imposed by outsiders. The thesis aims to analyze the Tenetehara
women subjectivities in their cultural practices and the historical society movements’ context,
which distinguish them from the 305 indigenous people currently living in Brazil, with 275
having "local" languages (IBGE, 2010). These field observations and informations allow us to
recognize the historical generalization imposed on indigenous populations in the country, which
perpetuates an Eurocentric "Indian" identity, marked by exoticism and neglects these people
particularities. This identity is a coloniality power result, a colonial device that permeates
history and resonates in contemporary society. Thus, this thesis aims to examine the indigenous
women protagonism, using the body-territory concept (CELENTANI, 2014; XAKRIABÁ,
2018; KARIPUNA, 2021), which is a central element of their way of life. These women bodies’
images within their struggles, rights, and achievements are conceived as an instrument of
knowledge, memory, and perception, which are embodied in the Territory, distancing us from
the imposed matrix and the coloniality gaze.
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