This article explores the narratives and memories of Emanuela Sousa, an Indigenous woman of the Kumaruara people, a nun for over five decades,
and a leading figure in the Indigenous movement in the lower Tapajós River region. Using life history and oral history, we seek to understand
her trajectory, the process of ethnic emergence, and the organization of the Indigenous movement in the lower Tapajós River, the territory where
she was born and dedicated part of her work as an Indigenous activist. Long described as dead or extinct, the Indigenous peoples of this region
began to publicly mobilize their ethnic identities beginning in the late 20th century, a period when the region’s political and social landscape was
reconfigured. Thus, Emanuela’s narratives and memories, as guiding threads, have enabled a renewed understanding of this process.
