Terena Leadership in Mato Grosso: Milton Jorge Turi Rondon and Cirênio Reginaldo Francisco
Terena – MT; Indigenous Leadership; Xumono and Sukirikiono.
This dissertation analyzes the role of Terena leaders from Mato Grosso—particularly Milton Jorge Turi Rondon (Sukirikiono) and Cirênio Reginaldo (Xumono)—in the struggle for the demarcation of territory for the Terena people of Mato Grosso between 1998 and 2002. The study is based on previously unpublished primary sources, such as minutes, official letters, internal documents, photographs, and audiovisual records recovered after the passing of Chief Milton Rondon. These materials reveal key processes of mobilization, identity affirmation, and territorial conquest for the Terena people of Mato Grosso. Drawing on documentary research (SÁ-SILVA; ALMEIDA; GUINDANI, 2009), the study seeks to understand how Terena cultural duality, expressed through the Xumono and Sukirikiono moieties, shaped political strategies, negotiations, and confrontations with the Brazilian State in a context of institutional neglect and rights violations. The results show that leaders Milton and Cirênio played a fundamental role in community mobilization, in seeking legal assistance, in organizing assemblies, and in building the political unity that enabled the recognition of the Terena Indigenous Land in the northern region of Mato Grosso, culminating in recent judicial decisions favorable to the Terena people of Mato Grosso. As part of an educational product, a Pedagogical Practices Report is developed for the Elio Turi Rondon Terena State Indigenous School, aimed at the Terena communities of northern Mato Grosso, with the purpose of strengthening collective memory, cultural identity, and the teaching of the social organization of the Terena people of Mato Grosso.