Eliakin Rufino

A native of Boa Vista, Roraima, Eliakin Rufino is a poet, singer, writer, philosophy teacher, cultural producer, and journalist. He is a member of the *Roraimeira* movement—an Amazonian cultural expression regarded by social scientists as a key element in shaping the identity of Roraima. Eliakin is truly an artist of the spoken and written word!


“There is much talk about the ‘position of speech’—the right to speak from one’s own lived experience. But beyond that position, I possess the *voice of the place itself*. The Amazon is my house, my home, my origin, and the realm of my forebears and ancestors. Yet, the Amazon is not truly being listened to, and we continue to witness attempts to colonize it.”