“Go gather chestnuts!”. Racism in the Karo Arara’s soccer practices

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the implications of racism experienced within the context of amateur football in the trajectory of the Karo Arara people in Rondônia, Brazil. The study is grounded in a qualitative multisited ethnographic approach, involving participant observation, informal conversations, and semi-structured interviews conducted with the research participants. Based on the shared experiences and narratives produced during fieldwork, it was identified that racism manifests recurrently in interactions established within the sporting environment, revealing practices of discrimination, stigmatization, and social exclusion directed toward Indigenous subjects. The findings indicate that sport, although often associated with values of integration and sociability, also reproduces historical inequalities and power structures present in Brazilian society. It is concluded that confronting racism against Indigenous peoples requires not only institutional recognition and legal accountability, but also educational actions and ongoing processes of social awareness capable of challenging historically naturalized discriminatory practices.