“Onde eu chego, eu falo que sou da Faveira”: o processo de autorreconhecimento da comunidade quilombola Faveira, São João dos Patos/MA (2012–2021)

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the self-recognition process of the Faveira Quilombola Community, located in São João dos Patos, in the State of Maranhão, between 2012 and 2021, seeking to define the spaces, agents, and strategies for organizing the collective struggle. The research, which is mainly based on oral accounts from residents, seeks to understand how the collective memories (Pollak, 1989) of the community have been mobilized to strengthen Quilombola identity(ies) and guarantee constitutional rights. Using the methodology of oral history (Alberti, 2005), we sought to recover fragments of personal and collective trajectories, with an emphasis on resistance and the struggle for the preservation of ways of life and recognition of the territory. In dialogue with authors such as Clóvis Moura, Flávio Gomes, Kabengele Munanga, and Beatriz Nascimento, we understand quilombos as spaces of resistance to the slave system, but also as places of resistance, construction of social relationships, and reaffirmation of identities over time.