The Xavante (also Shavante, Chavante, Akuen, A'uwe, Akwe, Awen, or Akwen) are an indigenous people, comprising about 30,000 individuals[1] within the territory of eastern Mato Grosso state in Brazil.

Unlike other Native American peoples, the Paiter-Surui, Karitiana, and Xavante have an ancestry partially related to indigenous Australasian populations of the Andaman Islands, New Guinea, and Australia.

Scientists speculate that the relationship derives from an earlier people, called "Population Y", in East Asia from whence both groups diverged 15,000 to 30,000 years ago, the future Australasians migrating south and the remote ancestors of the Xavante northward finding their way to the New World and to the interior Amazon Basin.

The Xavante are also known for their complex initiation rituals for young males, such as when small wooden sticks are inserted in the earlobes at the age of fourteen.

A small number of Xavante even travelled to São Paulo to partake in Sepultura's Barulho Contra Fome (Noise Against Hunger) concert in 1998 that marked the start of their tour for their follow-up album, Against, where their presence was featured in the music video for the song "Choke".