FROM SILENCE TO REPARATION

INDIGENOUS COMMUNICATION AND SYMBOLIC DISPUTES IN THE BRAZILIAN MEDIA FIELD

Abstract

This article develops a critical theoretical-conceptual review of Indigenous communication in the Brazilian media field, proposing the concept of communicational reparation as an analytical framework for understanding the effects of coloniality on the production, circulation, and public legitimization of Indigenous voices. Grounded in Cultural Studies, Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, and Latin American decolonial thought, the text examines why the right to communication for Indigenous peoples remains absent from state policies of historical reparation despite the constitutional advances achieved after 1988. The analysis argues that contemporary Indigenous counter-narratives, particularly in digital environments, operate through a dual dynamic: they challenge the hegemonic media field while simultaneously creating autonomous forms of authorship, recognition, and knowledge circulation. Communication is thus understood not merely as a technical or instrumental process, but as a space of struggle for epistemic recognition, narrative autonomy, and communicational sovereignty. The article’s main contribution is the proposal of communicational reparation as an analytical category capable of articulating communication, symbolic justice, and self-determination, thereby expanding contemporary debates on democracy and decolonization in multiethnic Brazil.