Brasiliaens Dorp: Mission Villages and Indigenous Agency in the Northern Captaincies during Dutch Brazil (1633-1645)
Colonial Indian, Dutch Brazil, Mission Villages, New Indian History, Social History
This dissertation intends to show the process of structuring and running the system of Mission Villages between 1633 and 1645, in the Captaincies of Pernambuco, Itamaracá, Paraíba, and Rio Grande under Dutch rule–making use of theoretical and methodological concepts of the field that have been known in Brazil as “New Indigenous History”, primarily through the idea of agency. Using primary sources that are bureaucratic and/or narrative, we intend to scrutinize what were the contributions and interests of indigenous peoples, through collective or individual action, in the aforementioned historical process of making Mission Villages during Dutch Brazil. In this analysis, we will also explore the social tensions between Indians and non-Indians regarding the various demands for labor, religious conversion, military action, and protection - that involved the Mission Villages in this historical context.