Indigeneity, land and labour in Paraguay

Abstract This article is focused on the politics of indigeneity, which is an increasingly important concept and a central area of dispute in a globalised world. Indigeneity encapsulates the friction between ethnicity and class identities, which cannot be understood without a full consideration of differences and relationships between landowners, other economic sectors, non-indigenous workers and indigenous people. The text specifically deals with the circumstances of Paraguay, whose process of nation building is directly related to longitudinal attacks on its indigenous peoples and the unresolved problems of land, labour and rights. The case study investigates the long-term tendencies of Paraguayan society, in particular, the ongoing expansion of agribusiness and land grabbing in the northeast of the country that tragically affect the Paĩ Tavyterã indigenous people. The discussion is based on qualitative, engaged research over several years, which considered the indigenous population as co-investigators and active socio-political players. The conclusion is that, despite the fact that Paraguay is a major exporter of primary commodities, the prevailing geographical force is the accumulation of multiple forms of social, ecological and even economic degradation. Against those perverse trends, the important reaction of the Paĩ Tavyterã, as well as of other indigenous peoples, and their struggle to recover their land and socio-ecological relations greatly complicate national politics and challenge the hegemony of export-oriented agribusiness.