Social Representations of “Being Indigenous”: an Analysis from the Non-indigenous

Abstract

This is a qualitative descriptive research that aimed to understand the social representations of “being indigenous” from images and meanings shared by non-indigenous people based on the Theory of Social Representations and anthropological references . To this end, the Word-Association Test (WAT), semi-structured interviews, and a sociodemographic questionnaire were applied to 38 non-indigenous people from the city of Fortaleza approached in either public or social settings. Sociodemographic data were tabulated and information collected by the WAT were analyzed considering the frequency of the terms evoked, organized into five thematic categories: distinct subject, primitive subject, subject of law, excluded subject, and valued subject. The ATLAS.ti software was used to analyze excerpts from the interviews, enabling the visualization of categories, the creation of codes, and the development of a semantic network that favored results interpretation. Results indicate that social representations about indigenous people are anchored in a dated knowledge that places these people as primitives. Alienated in their own culture, without contact and experiences with indigenous people, the non-indigenous population reproduces symbolic and cultural violence against these ethnic groups. In this scenario, knowledge functions as to demystify stereotypes, promoting respect towards the indigenous culture while recognizing them as a subject of rights, just like any other citizen.

Keywords:
Social representations; Indigenous; Non-Indigenous