Income transfer policies and development: the case of the Kalapalo of Alto Xingu

Abstract

In this article, I intend to discuss the cash transferpolicies as one side of the capitalist global expansion.This movement materializes itself in “progressive”policies that affect the daily life of the Kalapalo people, from Aiha village. On one hand, cash transfer policiesare based on concepts that disregard the indigenous peoples’ specificities, and that lead to a series ofmisunderstandings, which affect the processes of enrollment and inclusion of families in the policies. These misunderstandings, or equivocations, to use Viveiros de Castro’s conception, in turn, engender expectations, often frustrated, both toward the State and its representatives, as well as toward the Kalapalo. On the other hand, when these resources are incorporated into the “traditional” circuits of circulation of goods, they become part of the networks that structure kinship and alliance relationships, inside and outside the villages, in the daily life or in ritual moments.