Indigenous Peoples and Land-Based Disputes: Paraguay and the Paĩ Tavyterã

Abstract

This article discusses some of the long-term tendencies of the Paraguayan political economy, focusing, in particular, on impacts on indigenous peoples and, because of the ongoing agribusiness expansion in the northeast of the country, on the Paĩ Tavyterã nation. This analysis is warranted because of the growing recognition of the importance of land-related disputes affecting indigenous peoples, particularly in countries such as Paraguay that rely heavily on agribusiness exports and on the exploitation of natural resources. It is based on more than six years of research dedicated to the land struggles of the Paĩ Tavyterã (and members of the same ethnic group in Brazil, called Guarani-Kaiowa). Instead of a comparative study, this is a relational storytelling text that draws insights from various actors, communities and situations that were obtained through a qualitative and participative methodology, involving indigenous communities as co-participants and co-investigators in the study. Empirical results demonstrate that, despite the fact that Paraguay is a major exporter of agribusiness commodities the accumulation of multiple forms of subtraction is a prevailing geographical force. The reaction of indigenous peoples is in the form of anti-subtraction. The main implication of this research is that the process of decolonisation is, first and foremost, an anti-subtraction movement that aims to revert the deficit caused by the systemic subtraction of socio-economic and socio-ecological opportunities.