Territoriality and Ethnicity in Camaputiua: resistance from a quilombo in deep Maranhão

Abstract

This experience report results from activities carried out within the scope of the “Consultation protocol and territorial protection plans for quilombola communities in the state of Maranhão”, financed by the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship in partnership with the Federal University of Maranhão. The territory of Camaputiua is made up of 28 communities, located in the municipality of Cajari, in the Baixada Maranhense microregion. The objective is to analyze the elements that make up the territoriality of Camaputiua and its identity diversity, the practices and ways of life linked to regional biodiversity and the ancestral sociocultural universe of the quilombo. The methodology involved field visits to carry out workshops and the application of forms for occupational surveys. Conflicts have been noted in the region with buffalo breeders, due to the electrical fencing of streams and babassu groves, which promotes insecurity for the population. Indeed, decolonizing the perception of quilombola communities is a sociocultural, political and historical urgency in the fight against structural racism that marginalizes traditional peoples and tries to silence them. Despite the adversities, the quilombos, like Camaputiua, continue to formulate their narratives of resistance, raising their voices governed by ethnic ties that perpetuate knowledge, cultures and ancestral experiences embedded in, unknown to many, deep Maranhão.