Brazilian Indigenous Communities Confront State Violations and Push for Cultural Restitution

From May 5 to 7, a popular tribunal in São Luís, Maranhão brought together about 100 representatives of quilombola, coconut‑breaking and small‑farm families to accuse the state, agribusiness firms and local landowners of land‑grabbing, illegal agro‑chemical spraying, violence and other socio‑environmental crimes. The symbolic trial examined five disputed territories, citing displaced families and contaminated rivers, and issued verdicts that held the State’s environmental agency, the land registry and the public security secretary accountable for permitting and failing to prevent the abuses.

Between May 13 and 15, the city of Lisbon hosted the international symposium “Histories of Anthropology and Restitutions,” convening researchers from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, France and Portugal. The event focused on returning cultural objects, knowledge and archives to living indigenous peoples, highlighting the 17th‑century Tupinambá mantle returned from Denmark to Brazil. Organizers emphasized that restitution should recognize the rights of present‑day communities rather than treat artifacts as extinct relics.