Urgent considerations on the relationship between the advance of covid-19 in indigenous territories in Brazil and the impacts of monoepistemic public policies

Abstract

This paper seeks to deal with the advance of Covid-19 in indigenous territories in Brazil, whether urban or rural. To do so, we have gone through a general analysis of the Brazilian government’s indigenous policies, comparing bulletins and data from the Special Secretariat of Indigenous Health—Secretaria Especial de Saúde Indígena, an agency linked to the Ministry of Health, as well as data from the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, the main Brazilian indigenous political movement. Furthermore, we systematize strategies that have been developed and executed by some indigenous peoples in Brazil, undertaken by an exploratory analysis of manifestations of indigenous leaders on the internet, along with actions in the legal sphere, as well as, actions in the indigenous territory. Finally, the monoepistemic character of public policies on the issue is problematized.