From the ethnic to the pan-ethnic: negotiating and performing indigenous identities

Abstract

Drawing from the speech-act theory proposed by Austin in 1962, this paper aims at refl ecting upon the ways a group of indigenous teachers located in Occidental Amazonia, more specifi cally in the State of Acre, Brazil, performatively constitute their identities in transcultural interactions. It is my intention to focus particularly on the way these teachers discursively construct, not only their ethnic identities, but their affiliation to a multiethnic group who shares a common political project as well.