Future Ancestralities in the Amazonia: Indigenous Arts of Resistance
Cologne International Forum Innovative Tandem Collaboration: 1 December 2023 - 30 November 2025
Dr. Trudruá Dorrico (Roraima, Brazil)
Partner at the University of Cologne: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Peter W. Schulze (Portuguese-Brazilian Institute)
Abstract
The project "Future Ancestralities in the Amazonia: Indigenous Arts of Resistance" is dedicated to the study of contemporary literature, visual arts, performance and films produced by indigenous subjects in Brazil. Based on plurinational identities, originating from the Amazon biome, we seek to analyze the artistic-literary-cultural panorama in the messages used by artist in their works.
To evaluate the protection of ancestral territories, indigenous bodies, and climate justice recurring in indigenous cultural production, we employ indigenous theory, whose paradigm contests the man versus culture dichotomy, created in the modern regime, anthropocentrism. Using books, essays, letters, posts, videos by indigenous intellectuals as the cornerstone of the project, we attempt to dialogue with post-colonial and decolonial theoretical currents and contemporary authors, in order to identify how the consequences of ethnic-racial relations constructed by Brazilian indigenous policy, imply the suffocation of indigenous voices and expressions.
The project, in addition to seeking to make various Amazons visible, also aims to make concepts such as self-determination, Abya Yala, Contemporary Indigenous Art, Live School, Panton Pia', indigenous identity, forestship, all existing in the indigenous movement and claimed as belonging to the indigenous world.
Final Report: Future Ancestralities in the Amazonia: Indigenous Arts of Resistance
Duration: December 2023 – 30 November 2024
Participants: Dr. Trudruá Dorrico (UFRR) & Prof. Dr. Peter W. Schulze (UzK)
Overview
This CIF project brought together Dr. Trudruá Dorrico and Prof. Dr. Peter W. Schulze in a collaboration that fostered academic exchange and public outreach across Germany and Brazil. The tandem focused on Indigenous arts and epistemologies in Amazonia, resulting in collaborative teaching, public events, and a forthcoming multilingual anthology on Amazonian Indigenous poetry. A central part of the project included workshops and congress participation in Brazil, as well as a public event in Cologne.
A core outcome is the publication of an anthology featuring poetry by Indigenous authors from the Amazon region. Originally conceptualised as bilingual, the book expanded into a multilingual format, including translations into Indigenous languages with support from the Federal University of Roraima (UFRR). The publication will be available both as an open-access e-book and in print.
Methodology & Preliminary Findings
The collaboration began in October 2023 with regular online meetings and continued with a three-month stay by Dr. Dorrico in Cologne starting December 2023. Collaborative teaching took place in the winter semester 2023/24 through three courses at the Portuguese-Brazilian Institute (PBI) at UzK, focused on the translation of Indigenous literature. These courses involved professors and students in collective translation work, with all contributors acknowledged in the final publication.
The team organized a public outreach event Artes da Palavra: Imaginários e estéticas afro-brasileiras e indígenas at the Allerweltshaus in Cologne (January 2024), featuring readings and a roundtable discussion. Approximately 40 people attended.
In August 2024, the team travelled to Boa Vista for further collaboration with UFRR. A strategic meeting was held with UFRR leadership, and a paper was presented at the V. Congresso Internacional Mundos Indígenas. Additionally, the workshop Terra e território: Poesia indígena da amazonia was conducted with around 50 participants, including poets, translators and researchers, contributing valuable feedback on the anthology project.
Continuing Research
The tandem continues to collaborate beyond the official CIF timeframe. A workshop titled Artes indígenas: transformações estéticas e sociais no campo cultural was organized in April 2025 at the Thyssen Foundation in Cologne, with participation by Dr. Dorrico. Further joint initiatives, including blended learning courses and co-publications, are currently in development.
Dr. Trudruá Dorrico
Trudruá Dorrico belongs to the Makuxi people. PhD in Literature Theory at PUCRS. She is a writer, artist, speaker and researcher of indigenous literature. Won 1st place in the Tamoios/FNLIJ/UKA New Indigenous Writers competition in 2019. Administrator of the @leiamulheresindigenas profile on Instagram. Curator of the 1st Indigenous Literature Exhibition at the Indigenous Peoples Museum (UFU). Authoress of the work “I am Macuxi and other stories” (Caos e Letras, 2019), "Time of reclaim" (Urutau, 2023) and organizer of "Originárias: one anthology feminine indigenous literature" (Companhia das Letrinhas, 2023). Curator of FeCCI - I Indigenous Film Festival, Brasília (2022). She was a resident at the Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris, 2023). She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Emerging and Consolidating Postgraduate Development Program PDPG - Strategic Postdoctoral/UFRR (2023).
