Territorialization and reparation in an Indigenous sense

disputes involving the Katurãma Village after the rupture of Vale S.A.’s dam in Brumadinho

Abstract

This article analyzes the emergence of the Katurãma Village, formed by Pataxó and Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe Indigenous People, following the collapse of the Vale S.A. dam in Brumadinho (Minas Gerais). The objective is to understand how their territorialization process challenges the contested meanings of reparation within the context of the disaster. The study demonstrates that the disaster produced effects extending beyond material damage, compromising territorial, community, and cosmological bonds. In response, the establishment of the Village created conditions for rebuilding collective life, affirming identity, and expanding the community's capacity for political engagement, without eliminating the conflicts and disputes that continue to shape reparation processes. Based on ethnographic research, grounded in the analysis of institutional documents, public statements by Indigenous leaders, and situated observation of participatory processes linked to reparation the article argues that the reparation demanded by Indigenous people is not only limited to compensating for losses but also involves reconstructing the conditions necessary for the continuity of their ways of life. It concludes that territorialization enables a contestation of the very meanings of territory, environmental conservation, and reparation. It challenges institutional rationales that tend to reduce damages to compensatory measures and embeds demands regarding the continuity of Indigenous collective life into reparation mechanisms.