Guarani education and religion in the state of Paraná, Brazil: a study on the Nimongarai ritual

Due to the violent expropriation and commercialization of large areas in the state of Paraná, Brazil, at the beginning of the 20th century the surviving indigenous groups were herded within small parcels of land, called villages, and currently denominated Indigene Land (IL). The Nhandewa Guarani of the northern region of the state of Paraná, living in the Laranjinha, Ywypor and Pinhalzinho ILs, have experienced terrible conditions since they lost many of their traditions and culture, including their language. During the 1980s and 1990s and within the context of the world economic crisis, the international organisms UNESCO and World Bank aimed at social cohesion and started, as a joint venture with the national states, the implementation of an inclusion policy based on the right to be different. Current analysis discusses the results of a cultural revival project developed through the register of narratives by the indigene elderly people with regard to the Nimongarai baptism ritual and pedagogical interventions in schools in the state of Paraná.