**Author details**

Despite all those illnesses, part of those Indians have been able to graduate at public universities and have come back to teach in the villages, in their mother tongue and in Portuguese, discussing different cosmological and theological theories. There are still those who throughout the years have been elected for city, state, or federal posts, contributing to the

Several nongovernment organizations (NGO's) have been created inside the villages to demand improvements ranging from infrastructure to water supply, garbage collection to communication, and culture devices. Many documentaries have been produced and ethnic group exchanges have happened in the Xavante lands. Some rituals still happen, and the women have conquered more space and conditions for their social and intellectual

Here, one intends to present the final considerations, not as a presentation of conclusions. Even so, that should not prevent the reader from reaching his own conclusions. Even because such conclusions may symbolize important reflexive instruments that are fundamental to the academic-scientific development and progress. The truth is that the Xavante pride does not lie on his being a hunter or his exhibition of warlike ferocity, but on his Xavante feeling and

More than that, any conclusion may contain a partiality that the author does not even perceive. In other words, any conclusion or judgment about the current Xavante modus vivendi, besides lacking a structural partiality and not embrace the whole sociocultural complexity of that people, may be irrelevant or of little contribution from the indigenous themselves point

The capital, on its own need for accumulation, reduced the Xavante to a rarefied mosaic of reserves, eliminating their structure and restructuring almost all aspects of their lives, but did not annihilate them. Thus, it is possible to affirm that the capital, at a given time, had to expand its activities to areas with unexplored resources and, at the same time, had to maintain some elements of those areas, like the workforce that is, virtually, also a consuming market. As the capitalist system is dynamic and inevitably expandable, it is equally possible to say that the same reserves that were "necessary" in the past may have their importance revised

Soon, new expansion fronts will surely besiege the remnant of the Xavante land, but what is not possible to predict is what kind of resistance the Xavante will have to offer. Important is to perceive that the past changes, according to some points of view, even though they seem so negative, can in the future symbolize very important elements of dialogue between Indians and the situations presented. That being said, the so-called acculturation may truly be an element of adaptation that enabled or is enabling the Indians to deal with more complex issues

However, the wisdom of the native Americans is not in a static body of costumes but on their ability to learn and react to situations in accordance with a rationality built up throughout thousands of years mixed with a spiritual irrationality that was also created throughout thou-

sands of years of balanced contact with the Earth and its resources.

greater autonomy of the Xavante people vis-à-vis external institutions.

development.

58 Indigenous People

of view.

in the future.

that might show up in the future.

understanding, without being minimized.

Renan A.S. de Oliveira\* and Luciene C. Risso

\*Address all correspondence to: renan.andreosi@gmail.com

Geography Postgraduate Program, Department of Geography, Institute of Geosciences and Exact Sciences, Paulista State University, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil
