138 J ournal of L atin A merican A nthropology Journal of Latin American Anthropology, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 138–153. ISSN 1085-7025, online ISSN 1548-7180. © 2006 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permissions to photo- copy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, www.ucpress.edu/journals/rights.htm. Actualidades Lex Talionis: Recent Advances and Retreats in Indigenous Rights in Brazil By Janet Chernela university of maryland, college park Advances in indigenous rights in Latin America’s largest nation-state, Brazil, unfold through history like a tango, with every succession of steps forward followed by as many backward. A deconstruction of the choreography of this danse macabre reveals a dialectic between norm and practice, as actors press to serve competing agendas through strategic maneuvering. A recent victory for indigenous rights in Brazil was the ratification, after 30 years of struggle, of the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Territory,home of nearly 22 thousand indigenous peoples of the Makuxi, Wapichana, and Ingariko ethnicities in Roraima state. Using this case, I present some of the recent moves and alliance configurations that have emerged in the contest over land, as diverse actors and interests shift and expand their strategies in the face of new political challenges and opportunities. Background In Brazil the military coup of 1964 put in place a strong state focused on national security. Expanded opportunity and modernization provided the justifications for the authoritarian state to set siege to the hinterland and the indigenous peoples who lived there. The same period saw the rise of the first formal indigenous organiza- tions in Brazil. The military stepped aside in 1985, creating space for new strategies for public action. 02_Articles.qxd 22/2/06 07:13 PM Page 138