For Indigenous populations in Brazil, maps are instruments of (in)visibility. Official maps have erased Indigenous territories and communities while cartographic representations have been a tool of resistance for Indigenous activists. These dynamics intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic when the spread of the virus among indigenous populations was poorly reported and absent from hegemonic contagion maps. Negligence from the state threatened the survival of communities around the country who organized collectively to create their own cartographic representations of the pandemic through resistant appropriations of media and data.
This paper draws on interviews with Indigenous leaders and media activists to discuss processes of data appropriation and resistant cartographies during the Covid 19 pandemic. Findings highlight the use of data and counter mapping strategies for self-representation and political action that must be understood through a non-media centric perspective, drawing from conceptualizations at the intersection between human geography, communication, and post-colonial theory.