Etnocídio by Brisa Flow and Ian Wapichana: Music Video, Territory and the Resistance of Indigenous People in Brazil

Abstract

This article analyses the music video Etnocídio (2023) by Brisa Flow, featuring Ian Wapichana, which was released during the Acampamento Terra Livre, Brazil’s main indigenous mobilization. The work is understood as a form of digital media and artistic expression that denounces the rise in violence against indigenous peoples and the threats posed by the Temporal Framework thesis, which contradicts the indigenous right to ancestral lands, guaranteed by the 1988 Federal Constitution. Using a qualitative methodology, we investigate the themes addressed and the narrative, visual and audio elements of the music video, whilst also drawing on interviews given by Brisa Flow to the media. We then analyse public reception based on comments posted on YouTube, using the IRaMuTeQ software to examine the textual corpus, which revealed semantic relationships and patterns of engagement. The results indicate that Etnocídio employs aesthetic and discursive strategies that challenge hegemonic narratives, often associated with stereotypes about what it means to ‘be indigenous’ in the Brazilian social imagination, thereby functioning as a visual archive of resistance and an instrument of memory activism. The analysis of reception reveals that the music video is recognised as a means of denouncing injustices and highlighting contemporary Indigenous struggles, albeit with less in-depth exploration of the themes addressed. These findings highlight the need to broaden the debate on ethnocide in Brazil, linking the production and circulation of digital media to increasing the representation of indigenous peoples in political decision-making forums, whilst recognising the central importance of these issues for the protection of the environment and the future of the planet.