Authors of authenticity : indigenous leadership and the politics of identity in the Brazilian northeast

This thesis explores contemporary processes of indigenous (and black) Identification In the Brazilian Northeast. It addresses three main questions: 1) why there has been a growing wave of indigenous Identification In the region; 2) how It was possible for indigenous Identification to grow when the very notion of 'indigenous' has remained highly contested; and 3) how the peoples involved in these processes of Identification have dealt with the challenges posed to their 'authenticity'. In Brazil, the idea of indigenous extinction grew parallel to the burgeoning of the eulogy of mestigagem, a widespread Latin American nationbuilding ideology.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo