On that occasion, our colleague Mark Harris (St-Andrews/Adelaide) presented his book, which is in the process of being finished. In the meeting, discussions were held regarding the development of an ethnographic history of the Amazon during the colonial period, emphasizing territories and spaces rather than identities and ethnicities. The review of territorial dynamics focused on the regions of the eastern Amazon, in the northern and southern channels, with a reinterpretation of caboclo societies. Using an interdisciplinary approach that combined anthropological, historical, archaeological and linguistic methods, the researcher pointed out the challenges of addressing identities in the face of group mobility and border transformations. Thus, he proposed mapping three major spaces: indigenous networks, colonial spaces and riverside spaces, the latter being more difficult to define (close to the concept of middle ground) but fundamental to understanding Cabanagem.

These spaces were both independent and interdependent, and the interactions between them were crucial to the development of the region. A striking example discussed was the meeting in 1665 between an indigenous leadership and the governor of the state of Maranhão, which aimed to establish alliances to facilitate river navigation. Although this attempt at integration failed, it led to the creation of new spaces for interaction and resistance. The historical analysis of this episode shows how territorial dynamics in the colonial Amazon were shaped by both conflicts and attempts at cooperation between indigenous and colonial groups.