At the age of 28, Luciane Kaxinawá has already marked the history of Brazilian journalism by becoming the country’s first indigenous presenter. A member of the Kaxinawá people, she has built up a career working for media outlets such asVogue Brasil,CNN, Amazônia Real and Amazon Sat. Luciane is taking advantage of her notoriety, currently as a member of the Canal Futura team, to bring the reality of indigenous peoples to light and shed light on the territorial conflicts experienced by her people, who are located on the border between the state of Acre and Peru.
The achievement did not come without hardship for the journalist who, in her first stints on television, had to erase part of her ancestral heritage, which included her indigenous name. “Within journalism, for many years, I had to fall into line. I was happy to practice the profession, but incomplete because I couldn’t wear earrings, ornaments or use my signature as I wanted,” said Luciene during her presentation at the 2023 edition of Proteja Talks, promoted by the Proteja initiative.
I’m the first female journalist andpresenteron BrazilianTV , but I don’t want to be the only one. I want to pave the way for other relatives to take their place.
Luciane Kaxinawá, indigenous journalist
The daughter of an indigenous mother and a non-indigenous father, she lived with her parents in the city of Porto Velho (RO) until she was a child. Her mother had been away from the community for 12 years and, without contact with her language and territory, did not pass on this heritage to her daughter. Luciene reconnected with her ancestral roots at the age of 10, when she met her relatives on a trip to Acre and heard her mother talking in her mother tongue for the first time with the cousin she had just met.
Her background has made her able to communicate to different audiences and thus be a bridge for exchanging experiences and stories. She brings Amazonian voices and narratives to media spaces that, until recently, only entrusted this mission to non-indigenous journalists or those from the Rio-São Paulo axis. “Now we Amazonians are communicating the way we communicate, and not through people from outside who don’t know our reality, telling us about us,” said Luciene.
Luciene Kaxinawá has already been recognized by the 17th edition of the Troféu Mulher Imprensa em 2023, an award given by Portal Imprensa in the Northern Region category , and by the Yes to Racial Equality Award, given by IDBR, in the Race on the Agenda category.