Izaque João (individual project)

Disclose and denounce human rights violations against practitioners of traditional Guarani-Kaiowá religiosity, our Nhanderu and Nhandesy (healers) and their followers. Broaden reflection on ways to protect the healers and their cultural heritage and formulate proposals on public policies for them.

Visits to communities to collect testimony on cases, take pictures and videos to post on the internet.

Event to gather Nhanderu and Nhandesy peoples and formulate proposals to be delivered to the government in order to stop the current escalation of violence against healers.

Disclosure of collected information on social networks and on a website/blog.

Synthesizing information in a final report.

In recent years there have been threats and violence committed directly by Ministers and believers of Pentecostal evangelical churches against the traditional Guarani-Kaiowá religious authorities (Nhanderu and Nhandesy, known as healers). There is also discrimination and institutional violence against healers and their family groups promoted by authorities (mayors, councilors) who become politically allied with evangelical churches in the villages, and also by indigenous and non-indigenous government officials, in areas such as health and education. There have been attacks to indigenous camps as a form of religious/cultural discrimination and criminalization creating false accusations against them as a form of discrimination and institutional violence. Discrimination and violence against healers and their groups, their property and holy sites is also an attack on cultural material and immaterial heritage of the Guarani-Kaiowá people.

Izaque John is a researcher at the Federal University of Grande Dourados and works at the Indian Museum, where he is in charge of the Guarani-Kaiowá Music Documentation Project. He works with the healers and rezadoras (shamans), recording and disseminating their knowledge.

In his community, Guyra Kambi’y, he also acts by assisting the group in times when they need evaluation and reports produced by people with university education. He contributed to the Indigenous Panambi land identification report and other studies on the environmental impacts of projects in the area. As an indigenous scholar and member of the group claiming the Indigenous Panambi land, he also participates in the movement Aty Guasu – Great Guarani Kaiowá Assembly.