The Mata Cavalo Quilombo, a black phoenix in Mato Grosso, Brazil : etnicity and struggle for land / Quilombo Mata Cavalo, a fenix negra mato-grossense : etnicidade e luta pela terra no estado de Mato Grosso

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

The Quilombo Mata Cavalo is located 10 kilometers away from the municipality of Nossa Senhora do Livramento, State of Mato Grosso, and 42 kilometers from Cuiaba, in the south of the state. The 14,700 hectares of this quilombo are home to 418 quilombola families, 60% of which reside in the area or at neighboring towns. Mata Cavalo is part or the Sesmaria Boa Vida complex, and consists of the quilombola communities of Aguassú, Ourinhos/Ponte da Estiva, Mata Cavalo de Baixo, Mata Cavalo de Cima, Mutuca, and Capim Verde, and also includes the community of Gleba Uniao, composed of "Sem Terra" (landless) families (although not linked to the Movimento Sem Terra-MST), and the community of Aguassú, constituted by "Sem Terra" and "Quilombolas". There are also small homestead owners - some of them black farmers - and cattle ranches, of which Ourinhos, Romale, Flamboyant, Sao Carlos and Capim Verde can be singled out. Quilombo Mata Cavalo was formed in "sesmaria" Boa Vida and "sesmaria" Rondon in 1883, when some slaves were granted land by the owners of "sesmaria" Boa Vida. The amount of land was later increased through purchases in both "sesmarias", which were originally large land extensions granted by the colonial government to individual persons. From the beginning, the black settlers of Mata Cavalo were targets of expropriation attempts by landowners in the region. These attempts were unsuccessful due to resistance from the local population. At the end of the 1940 s and early in the the 50 s most of the land in the quilombo (approximately 90% of the area) was expropriated through the actions of a Livramento politician, Manuel Monteiro. Those actions were continued by persons to whom he had sold plots of the expropriated land. There were many acts of violence perpetrated by the new landowners with their employees and hitmen, with the participation or omission of local justice and police officers. Some of the families in the area resisted, mainly those from Mutuca, but very few were able to keep their land. Most of the black families left the area and went on to Livramento, Cuiabá, Várzea Grande and Poconé. Those that migrated to Cuiabá and Várzea Grande concentrated respectively in the neighborhoods of Ribeirao do Lipa and Cristo Rei (formerly Capão dos Negros). Those groups were able to parcially reconstruct the Mata Cavalo community thanks to their family and cultural ties. After the near total loss of their homes, some of the families began returning to the area, initially through the purchase of land. This process intensified in 1996 when dozens of families composed of descendants of the original dwellers of Mata Cavalo, together with some "Sem Terra" families, occupied areas in diverse sections of Complexo Sesmaria Boa Vida-Quilombo Mata Cavalo, installing camps to facilitate the permanence in the area. During this struggle to regain their land, family groups - with the aid of social mediators that supported them - discovered existing state and federal legislation related to the rights of remaining quilombos. After this discovery they initiated a territorialization process that began with a request of ownership over the lands of Mata Cavalo, having as reference Article 68 of the Act of Constitutional and Transitory Dispositions (ADCT) of the Federal Constitution, and Article 33 of the ADCT of the State Constitution. In April 23 of 1998 Mata Cavalo was recognized as a remaining quilombo by the government of Mato Grosso, having as reference the redefined concept of a quilombo. In 2000 the Palmares Cultural Foundation issued a Domain Title of 11, 722 hectares for the associations that groups all of the black communities of Mata Cavalo. The consequences of this process of territorialization in Mata Cavalo were the following: 1) the ethnogenesis of the identity of "remaining quilombo" (remanescente de quilombo); 2) the intensification of the formal organizing of the communities through the creation of local associations and a general association representing all of the communities; 3) an intense reelaboration of local culture, highlighting the cultural manifestations of the "quilombo" population and its African roots; 4) the re-elaboration of social memory through valorization of the memories of the elders; 5) the valorization of positive aspects related to the quilombo identity, such as the preservation of nature and the non-mercantile character of the land; 6) the community s appropriation of the ethnic identification process (endo-identification). Throughout this process, the expression remaining of quilombo stopped signifying survivors of former quilombos and was used to designate relatives of slaves who were early dwellers of the land. A valorization of genealogic trees, or "troncos", occurred as part of this last process. The process of reclaiming the lands of Quilombo Mata Cavalo is not yet over (2009), for the INCRA did not remove members of the "Sem Terra" movement, farmers and squatters. Meanwhile, significant changes have taken place in the struggle for the land at the Quilombo. In addition to the adoption of a firm position by the Federal Public Ministry in defense of the rights of the local quilombolas, the police have also stopped acting in favor of landowners, taking occasional measures against the "quilombolas" but also some actions in their defense. Diverse ONGs, social movements and the mass media have followed more closely the struggle carried out by the "quilombolas". There is racial and religious diversity and also internal conflicts , social differentiation, and different projects on how to use the land among the quilombola families of Mata Cavalo, but none of this prevents them from being an ethnic group, maintaining unity in order to face adversarial social groups, develop common strategies to relate with social mediators, have enough visibility to pressure and/or negotiate with public organs which regulate the reclaiming of their territories, and obtaining benefits for the community and its dwellers

ASSUNTO(S)

etnicismo social anthropology conflito social social conflict antropologia social posse da terra land tenure quilombos quilombo mata cavalo sociologia rural ethnicity

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

Documentos Relacionados