Ailton Krenak (born 1953) is a Brazilian indigenous intellectual, environmental activist, and leader of the Krenak people of Minas Gerais. He advocates for indigenous rights, environmental protection, and presents indigenous perspectives on human-nature relationships.
Krenak gained recognition during Brazil’s constitutional assembly in the 1980s, where he painted his face black while speaking to Congress, symbolizing indigenous peoples’ mourning. This act of resistance became notable in indigenous advocacy against colonization.
His philosophical work offers a decolonial perspective on ecology that examines Western assumptions about progress and development. Krenak proposes that indigenous peoples have maintained understanding of human embeddedness within nature and dependence on reciprocal relationships with all life. In books like Ideas to Postpone the End of the World (2019), he presents indigenous alternatives to contemporary systems and advocates for “creative resistance” - indigenous practices that maintain life-sustaining relationships with land, rivers, and forests.
Krenak’s philosophy of “being creek” examines identity as inseparable from watershed and ecosystem. As both an activist defending the sacred Doce River and a philosopher articulating indigenous cosmology, he integrates spiritual wisdom and political action. In 2024, he became the first Indigenous member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters in its 150-year history.
Key Concepts
- Creative Resistance: Indigenous practices that sustain life despite colonization
- Being Creek: Identity as inseparable from watershed and ecosystem
- Decolonial Ecology: Indigenous alternatives to Western environmentalism
- River Rights: Recognition of water bodies as living beings
Essential Works
- “Ideias para adiar o fim do mundo” / “Ideas to Postpone the End of the World” (2019) - English: House of Anansi Press, 2020
- “A vida não é útil” / “Life is Not Useful” (2020) - English translation 2023
- “Futuro Ancestral” / “Ancestral Future” (2022) - English translation 2024
Selected Quotes
The creative resistance is to maintain alive the vision that we have other possibilities of living. — Ideas to Postpone the End of the World (2020)
We are not in the Anthropocene; we are in the time of creative resistance. — Ideas to Postpone the End of the World (2020)
The idea that humans are separate from nature is the illness of civilization. — Ideas to Postpone the End of the World (2020)
The river is not a resource, it’s our ancestor. — Various writings
“We need to learn to be creek again.”
Further Reading
Biographical Sources
- Wikipedia: Ailton Krenak
- Brazilian Academy of Letters profile (2024)
Books in English
- Ideas to Postpone the End of the World (House of Anansi Press, 2020)
- Life is Not Useful (2023)
Related Resources
- Gaia Foundation environmental activism documentation
- Doce River rights advocacy