Quilombolas

Proven Free

The word quilombo originates from the Bantu language and refers to a type of military socio-political institution known in Central Africa... In Brazil, the word (quilombo) was used to designate communities organized by runaway black slaves, but which also housed poor Indians and whites. One of the most well-known quilombos is that of Palmares, located in the interior of Alagoas, in a place of difficult access. It was formed around 1595, occupying a territorial space equivalent to one third of Portugal, with about 30 thousand people, led by Zumbi dos Palmares. In addition to houses, workshops, pottery, religious temples, plantations and a political and defense council, quilombos were organized societies that planted what they needed to eat, had a hierarchy and were free to express their beliefs, their culture.

*Source: http://conaq.org.br/coletivo/educacao/

What are the beliefs and practices of my people regarding how a human being is meant to exist in relationship with a living earth?

Explore questions for each quote below by clicking the image.

Peoples Blog

“We’ve left behind the ‘I’ in order to work for ‘us’ and the ‘my’ to work for ‘ours’. What is mine? The house, the clothes. And what is ours? The land.”

Benedito Alves da Silva (ben-eh-dee-toe ahl-vays dah-seel-vah), President Association Ivaporundura

Read More →

“We only worked collectively, doing collective projects, puxirum (poo-she-room) as we called it, and the work was always divided with the plots right next to each other.”

Daniel de Souza (dah-nee-yell day soh-zah), territorial leader, Jauary

Read More →

“We do as our ancestors taught us. People need to know where (their) food… comes from. Our typical dishes came from the slave quarters and remain made without chemicals or poison.”

Heloísa de França Dias (eh-low-ee-zah day-fran-kah dee-ahz), community educator, Sao Pedro

Read More →

“Our struggle, like our grandparents’ and great-grandparents’, is to defend this land so that we can hand it over to the new generations just as it was when we received it.”

Adrienne (Drica) (ah-dreen) (dree-kah), teacher, Cachoeira Porteira

Read More →

Proven Resistant

Silenced and omitted for a long time by historiography in Brazil, the quilombos start being noticed during the 1970s by the Brazilian black movement... The National Coordination of Articulation of Quilombolas Rural Black Communities (CONAQ) was created in 1996 as a national movement with the purpose of representing and defending the rights of quilombos located in all Brazilian regions and biomes, as well as in rural and urban environments. It is mainly focused on defending quilombola territories, seeking to enforce the right to entitlement based on collective property and opposed to large exploratory economic enterprises - agribusiness, mining, real estate speculation, industries, wind farms, among others - whose activities have severely impacted the quilombola way of life.

*Source: http://ecam.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Quilombos-and-Quilombolas-in-the-Amazon-The-Challenges-of-Recognition.pdf