Quilombola self-recognition and self-management in Agreste Paraibano: A countercolonial approach to Afro-centered territorial involvement
Traditional Communities; Protagonism; Historical Experience; Afrocentricity; Territorial Involvement
This research aims to analyze how the quilombola communities of Caiana dos Crioulos and Senhor do Bonfim in Paraíba have been using self-recognition as a principle of political organization, generating self-management around the use of socio-biodiversity elements to combat socio-economic vulnerability arising from natural disasters and the absence of the state in both ethnic territories. This research is theoretically based on the concepts of Self-Recognition, Self-Management, Socio-Biodiversity, Territorial Involvement, Counter-Coloniality and Afrocentricity in order to present an analysis that takes into account the experiences of the communities as protagonists of their stories. As far as the methodological procedures of the research are concerned, the study is based on the epistemic assumptions of historical research and ethnographic research. It aims to provide an analysis that presents the context that preceded the process of self-recognition of the communities and, at the same time, updates on the consequences of the current struggle in search of better living conditions for the two communities. Through this theoretical-methodological approach, we can have a temporal dimension and the structural dimension of the circumstances surrounding the fight against socio-economic vulnerability in the communities, based on the use of their socio-biodiversity elements, that is, based on the movement that respects the environment and values the traditional know-how of Caiana dos Crioulos and Senhor do Bonfim.