Ser quilombola

Lecture: To be a Quilombola

Speaker: Marta Rodrigues

Date: August 1st 2011, 18:30h

Place: Cultural Center of the City Council, Salvador de Bahia (Brazil)

Webpage: www.ceao.ufba.br

Admission: free of charge

Comments: 

The public hearing titled "Identity and Access Quilombola Public Policy" initiative of the Commission of Reparation of the City Council, chaired by Councilwoman Marta Rodrigues, will discuss the importance of affirming the quilombola identity in the process of defending their constitutional rights and their public policies. The event will be attended by the Secretary Elias Sampaio (SEPROMI), Alexandro Reis, director of the Heritage Protection Department of Afro-Brazilian Palmares Cultural Foundation, Silvany Euclênio, Director of Programs of the Secretariat of Policies for Traditional Communities SEPPIR, Secretary Carlos Brasileiro (SEDES), Secretary Ailton Ferreira (SEMUR), Eduardo Jorge Gomes (SEDIR), José Vivaldo Mendonça, director of the Company for Development and Regional Action (CAR), State Representative Bira Côroa, Valmir dos Santos, from Quilombo State Council of Bahia and journalist and director of the documentary "SER QUILOMBOLA", Jaqueline Barreto, who will present her project for the communities.

The hearing will be initiated by the screening of the documentary "SER QUILOMBOLA." The audiovisual production discusses the main elements that constitute the identity from the quilombola communities of the São Francisco do Paraguaçu and Porteiras, located respectively in the cities of Cachoeira and Entre Rios. Some issues discussed are relationship with the land, kinship ties, racism, traditions that reinvent themselves and self-esteem. "Ser Quilombola " counts with the participation of historians Ubiratan Castro and João José Reis, Lydia Cardel, a sociologist and professor at the Federal University of Bahia, the former representative of the Palmares Cultural Foundation, Luciana Mota, and the sociologist Walter Altino.

The documentary covers the two criteria of Decree 4.887/03 which is under threat in the Supreme Court: territoriality and self-definition. It also represents a right of reply of the São Francisco do Paraguaçu community displayed by the report in Jornal Nacional Rede Globo. The documentary is intended to be used as a political tool that encourages self-esteem and the need of quilombola affirmation of identity as an instrument access to public policies.

About Quilombolas:

A Quilombola is a resident of a Quilombo in Brazil. They are the descendents of slaves who escaped from slave plantations that existed in Brazil until abolition in 1888. The most famous Quilombola was Zumbi and the most famous Quilombo was Palmares.

Many Quilombolas live in poverty.

A quilombo (from the Kimbundu word kilombo) is a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by people of African origin, Quilombolas, or Maroons. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos (called quilombolas) were escaped slaves and, in some cases, a minority of marginalised Portuguese, Brazilian aboriginals, Jews and Arabs, and/or other non-black, non-slave Brazilians who experienced oppression during colonization. However, the documentation on runaway slave communities typically uses the term mocambo to describe the settlements. "Mocambo" is an Ambundu word that means "hideout", and is typically much smaller than a quilombo. Quilombo was not used until the 1670s and then primarily in more southerly parts of Brazil.

A similar settlement exists in other Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, and is called a palenque. Its inhabitants are palenqueros who speak various Spanish-African-based creole languages. Quilombos are identified as one of three basic forms of active resistance by slaves. The other two are attempts to seize power and armed insurrections for amelioration. Typically, quilombos are a "pre-19th century phenomenon". The prevalence of the last two increased in the first half of 19th century Brazil, which was undergoing both political transition and increased slave trade at the time.

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