Celebrating Rosane Kaingang

Today’s Doodle celebrates the unshakeable spirit of Rosane Mattos Kaingang, an Indigenous Brazilian activist who worked tirelessly to fight for Native rights. She brought representation to the Indigenous community and played a critical role in helping the Council of Human Rights (CNDH) investigate rights violations against Native Brazilians. On this day in 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development hosted in Rio de Janeiro (or Rio 92 Conference), she began her life of service to the indigenous movement.

Kaingang was a descendant of the Kaingang people, an Indigenous ethnic group primarily from the southern states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. Her indigenous name, Kokoj, means “hummingbird,” and was given to her during a ceremony in honor of her great-grandmother, who died at 120 years old! Just like her name, everything she later worked for was strongly rooted in her community and heritage.

She spent her adult life fighting for the recognition of rightful territories, sustainable community development and access to quality education and medical services. Kaingang was also instrumental in bringing awareness to the struggles of Indigenous women. As one of the founders of the National Council of Indigenous Women of Brazil (CONAMI), she helped create a structure for Indigenous women to organize and protest as a larger body. These protests urged for broader access to resources and Indigenous labor rights.

Kaingang also represented several other social reform groups, most notably the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of the South (ARPINSUL) and the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI). She participated in dozens of meetings, seminars, hearings and mobilization efforts that advocated for a more equitable future for Native Brazilians.

Kaingang is remembered for her dedication and love for the Indigenous community — a true warrior who never stayed silent in the face of injustice and adversity.

Early drafts of today’s Doodle