Guarani translocations: Revisiting documentary sources with Bartomeu Melià

Abstract

This article revisits a theme that has been central to Guarani ethnology since the pioneering work of Nimuendaju: Guarani territorial movements, often interpreted as a quest for the land without evil. Without pretending to be a systematic review, the article covers classic texts and their approach to Guarani or Tupi-Guarani religion and migrations, raising doubts regarding a number of hypotheses, such as that of a religious quest (whether prophetic or ascetic) as the only and constant motivation for Guarani or Tupi-Guarani migrations during five centuries; the pre-Conquest character of migrations and their mythical-religious motivation, which would serve as proof of a native cultural/religious originality; of culture as an experience that is “authentic” insofar as it remain integrally immutable, or at least that it retain a sort of inner core. In criticising these hypotheses, the article draws attention to the limits of an ethnology that is unwilling to criticise historical documentary sources, building interpretations based on careless generalizations or reaffirming ideological positions. We seek to follow the path cleared by Bartomeu Melià concerning the need to “archaeologically” sieve through the documentary sources so as to obtain an adequate understanding of the lived contexts of the colonial Guarani, and thus provide an analytical exercise concerning the context for some Guarani displacements in the first half of the 17^th Century. The analysis of Jesuit letters from the period leaves no doubt that the displacements which took place in the Guairá and Tapé regions sought protection against Bandeirantes from São Paulo, precluding a mythical-prophetic reason as the central theme of Guarani wanderings. We hope that this exercise contributes to the development of a Guarani ethnology that is willing to reflect on history and to engage critically documentary sources.