A memória como resistência indígena inscritas em duas narrativas na obra contos da floresta, de Yaguarê Yamã

Abstract

Contemporary Indigenous literature has established itself as a space for cultural preservation and resistance in the face of historical processes of erasure experienced by Indigenous peoples. Through writing, authors such as Yaguarê Yama reaffirm collective memory and transform oral tradition into a permanent record, without breaking with their ancestry. In this context, the present study aims to analyze how memory is configured as a form of cultural resistance in two narratives in the work *Contos da Floresta* (2012), highlighting the presence of ancestry, myths, and teachings transmitted through Maraguá oral tradition. The research engages with reflections from authors such as Sicsú (2023), who understands Indigenous literature as a political instrument of identity affirmation; Kambeba (2020), who highlights the role of orality as the guardian of knowledge; Daniel Munduruku (2017), Ailton Krenak, Eliane Potiguara, and Graúna (2013), who defend Indigenous writing as a counter-discourse to colonial narratives. It is observed that, by transforming traditional accounts into literary text... Yamã expands the reach of these voices, breaking geographical and symbolic boundaries. Her writing rescues ancestral stories, values ​​the forest territory as a spiritual space, and proposes a worldview based on the balance between humanity and nature. Thus, Tales of the Forest fits into the broader movement of contemporary Indigenous literature, which seeks protagonism, representation, and cultural preservation, highlighting the role of narrative as a means of preserving the history, language, and traditional values ​​of forest peoples, and thus understanding how literature can be a form of struggle and affirmation in the face of attempts at cultural erasure. In conclusion, the work reaffirms memory as a living force, capable of resisting silencing, transmitting to new generations the cosmology, values, and identity of the original peoples.