With his long black hair tied back in a ponytail, a beaming smile and his mobile phone in his hand, Tukumã Pataxó is easy to like.
I met him in April in Brasilia at the Acampamento Terra Livre, a gathering of more than 7,000 people from over 200 Indigenous groups across Brazil. Tukumã and other influencers like him are conscious of the power they can wield with just a smartphone and a story, racking up hundreds of thousands of followers (he has over 192k on Instagram alone) with stories of Indigenous culture and calls to action.
“People say, ‘how can you be an Indigenous person when you have a cell phone in your hand?’” he told me. “But we have to adapt to this modern world. We have to be connected, and the internet is a fighting tool, a weapon. Now it’s not only the bow and arrow, but also the cell phone.”
