Bios

Ailton Krenak is considered one of the great leaders of the Brazilian indigenous movement. Since the 1980’s he’s been instrumental in bringing together the 180 different indigenous tribes of Brazil in multiple collective formations, as well as overcoming historical tensions between the indigenous peoples and the rubber tappers, to collectively organise against the capitalist bondage of the future.

He famously functioned as a representative of indigenous peoples at the debates on the 1988 Brazilian Constitution, where he ritually painted his face during a speech. You can see a video of this moment here. This speech/ performance helped defeat the political slight of hand that would have ‘granted’ indigenous peoples’ Brazilian citizenship and rights, as a way to remove their immanent sociality and any claims they had to their traditional lands, thus opening those lands up to extraction and exploitation.

He either co-founded or participated in multiple indigenous rights organisations, such as the União dos Povos Indígenas (Union of Indigenous Peoples), the Aliança dos Povos da Floresta (Alliance of Forest-dwelling Peoples), the Núcleo de Cultura Indígena (Nucleus of Indigenous Culture), among others. From 2003 to 2010, Krenak was special aide for indigenous affairs to the governor of Minas Gerais. In 2016, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, where he teaches about culture, history and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples. In October 2023, he was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters, being the first indigenous Brazilian to join the institution.

He has published over 15 books. Some of them have been translated into more than 13 languages. In recognition of his intellectual contributions, he was honoured with the prestigious Juca Pato award for ‘intellectual of the year’ by the Brazilian Writers Union in 2020. Presently, he resides in the Krenak Indigenous Reserve, situated in the municipality of Resplendor, Minas Gerais.

Geni Núñez is an indigenous Guarani and queer activist, psychologist and writer. She is currently a Postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of São Paulo (USP). They have a doctorate in the Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Program in Human Sciences from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), where they also completed a master’s degree in Social Psychology and a degree in Psychology. They are a member of the Human Rights Commission (CDH) of the Brazilian Federal Psychology Council (CFP) and the Guarani Yvyrupa Commission (CGY).

Denise Ferreira da Silva is a philosopher, writer, and filmmaker. Her academic and artistic works address the ethico-political challenges of the global present. She is the author of Toward a Global Idea of Race (2007), A Divida Impagavel (2019), Unpayable Debt (2021) and co-editor (with Paula Chakravartty) of Race, Empire, and the Crisis of the Subprime (2013) Her artistic work includes the films Serpent Rain (2016) and 4Waters-Deep Implicancy (2018), in collaboration with Arjuna Neuman; and the relational art practices Poethical Readings and Sensing Salon, in collaboration with Valentina Desideri. She has written texts for publications for the Liverpool, São Paulo and Venice Biennales, and for Documenta 14.

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a renowned Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer and artist, who has been widely recognized as one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation. Her work breaks open the intersections between politics, story and song—bringing audiences into a rich and layered world of sound, light, and sovereign creativity.

Leanne is the author of eight books, including A Short History of the Blockade and the novel Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies which was short listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction and the Dublin Literary Prize. This Accident of Being Lost was a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Trillium Book Award. Her new project, a collaboration with Robyn Maynard, Rehearsals for Living is a National Best Seller and was short listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction. Leanne is also a musician. Her latest release Theory of Ice was named to the Polaris Prize short list, and she is the 2021 winner of the Prism Prize’s Willie Dunn Award.

Working for two decades as an independent scholar using Nishnaabeg intellectual practices, Leanne has lectured and taught extensively at universities across Canada and the United States and has over twenty years experience with Indigenous land-based education. She holds a PhD from the University of Manitoba and is member of Alderville First Nation.