ABSTRACT
This chapter limits a definition of anthropological engagement solely in relation to activism and advocacy as it pertains to the author's own fieldwork and in the manner of his interaction with his informants. It is about expressing urban Amerindian's concerns about the discrimination and racism they face against Brazilian society and for many reasons against the Brazilian government. The chapter is to provide an overview of urban Amerindian identity in Manaus, Brazil, and their struggles for recognition. In author view political engagement with indigenous peoples not only entails advocacy but also evokes a multiplicity of relations between anthropologist and Indian. It implies an interethnic and inter-subjective relationship, which is also reciprocal. Indians, on the one hand, use Brazilian anthropologists for their advantage in gaining access to governmental organizations, NGOs, and addressing health and economic needs and in navigating judicial issues. Anthropologists, on the other hand, seek empirical data in which to theorize anthropologically about Indians.
