Interview with Ailton Krenak (by Bruno Sena Martins and Maria Paula Meneses)
Interview with Ailton Krenak by Bruno Sena Martins and Maria Paula Meneses
Short Biography:
Ailton Krenak is an indigenous human rights activist. Born in 1953, from the Krenaki tribe in the Vale do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais. In 1987, he captured media and public attention by painting his face black with jenipapo stain while delivering a speech in the National Congress, as a gesture of mourning for the retrocession in proceedings on indigenous rights. He founded and directs the Indigenous Culture Centre, and is director of the Dance and Indigenous Cultures Festival, in Serra do Cipo (Minas Gerais). He received the prestigious Premio Onassis – Man and Society, Aristotle Onassis Foundation in Athens-Greece, in 1990; National Award for Human Rights – Brazil – 2005; Commendation of the Order of Cultural Merit of Brazil, in 2008; Presenter of the TV series “Indios no Brasil”, 1998; TV-Canal Futura series “Tarú Andé”, 2007. Author of several papers and articles published in anthologies and journals in Brazil and abroad. In 2015, he published the book Encontros com Ailton Krenak (Azougue Editorial). In January 2016, he received an Emeritus Degree by the Federal University Juiz de Fora-UFJF.
