“MAKING THE FIGHT”: TRAJECTORIES, RESISTANCE AND STRUGGLES OF QUILOMBOLA WOMEN LEADERSHIP IN RIO GRANDE DO NORTE
Quilombola Women. Territory. Identity. Resistences. Struggles.
The visibility given to studies on quilombola communities is a recent construction, resulting from the processes of identity reconstruction of the groups, the struggle for rights and the recognition of these populations by the Brazilian State through the 1988 Constitution. In Rio Grande do Norte, the emergence process ethnic group begins in the 2000s with the joint work of the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA), the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte State in the preparation of Anthropological Reports, allowing the emergence of numerous quilombola groups fighting for the titling and recognition of territories by these occupied groups. The moment is characterized by the flowering of a questioning about the lack of records of the quilombola populations in Rio Grande do Norte, as historians such as Luís da Câmara Cascudo, stated that the black people did not have a great influence on culture and on the formation of the state, influencing negatively the production of studies on the black presence in RN State. Taking into account the production in Anthropology, realizing a lack of theoretical discussions in dealing with quilombola issues, some researchers trained in the PGGAS started to deal with the subject, mainly, dialoguing about general aspects related to the theme, little being discussed the role of women in these territories marked by struggles and resistance. Realizing that there is a gap in Anthropology studies on the role of quilombola women within their territories, this thesis aims to dialogue with women who act as quilombola leaders in Rio Grande do Norte and from their trajectories as local representatives, seek to understand the central role of these leaders in the struggle for the territories to which they belong. Thus, I try to dialogue with five quilombola women from different communities in the State of Rio Grande do Norte (Capoeiras, Grossos, Gameleiras de Baixo, Boa Vista dos Negros and Moita Verde) and methodologically support myself in bibliographic research, interviews and the use of the trajectories of life of these interlocutors, seeking to understand the daily life of the women surveyed.