Social representations of indigenous people in the newspaper O Progresso, in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the way indigenous people are described and narrated by the press in the city of Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, MS. Specifically in the newspaper O Progresso (The Progress), which has important circulation and dissemination in the area. The state of exception portraits the discourses that kill associated with the meaning of extermination, as expressed by Agamben in the term “state of exception”. How can we understand the category of indigenous people for and in society according to the media? It is with this question that the journalistic articles published in the crime section of the editions were analyzed. Starting with the production of the discourses expressed by the newspaper in question, based on the concept of social representations, we have attempted to highlight the webs of meanings found in the journalistic narrative and which has served to construct and naturalize acts of violence and inferiority concerning the indigenous populations in the state. Thus, supported by documental research, in dialogue with the field of Social Sciences, especially with Sociology, we have sought to comprehend the roles that these news discourses present, construct, and reiterate.