Saving Indigenous Children? The Government of Childhood and the Coloniality of Development in Amazonia

Abstract

The moral imperative of “saving” Indigenous children has been historically used as a tool to facilitate land appropriation in Amazonia. This paper examines how three types of child-centered interventions—early colonial tutelage, state schools, and conditional cash transfers—have contributed to reinforcing development models that threaten Indigenous livelihoods. Drawing insights from governmentality and decolonial studies, this literature review foregrounds the interplay between child saviorism, land dispossession, and predatory extractivism in Amazonia. The paper concludes by calling for the integration of Indigenous perspectives in social policies to challenge the colonial legacy of child-centered development.