{"id":29661,"date":"2016-07-04T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T12:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=29661"},"modified":"2016-07-13T12:52:20","modified_gmt":"2016-07-13T15:52:20","slug":"quilombo-do-camorim-a-history-of-conservation-and-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=29661","title":{"rendered":"Quilombo do Camorim: A History of Conservation and Resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were a rural quilombo that became an urban quilombo,\u201d Adilson Batista Almeida explains as he describes the Quilombo do Camorim do Maci\u00e7o da Pedra Branca<\/a> in Jacarepagu\u00e1<\/a>, an area in the West Zone<\/a> of Rio de Janeiro close to the Olympic Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Almeida is the founder, president and director of the Camorim Cultural Association<\/a> (ACUCA), a community organization that represents Camorim\u00a0residents’ claims to collective land titles in order to preserve the territory\u2019s history as a quilombo<\/a>\u2014historically the communities formed by runaway slaves. Like its neighbor Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a>, Quilombo do Camorim has been threatened by the real estate speculation<\/a> in Barra de Tijuca<\/a> that began in the 1980s and has accelerated in recent years due to the Rio 2016 Olympics<\/a>. Parts of the territory claimed by Quilombo do Camorim were\u00a0deforested to make way for recently constructed condominiums<\/a> that will house international journalists covering the Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin our history, we have all of this cultural, environmental, and historical knowledge,\u201d Almeida states, detailing the quilombo\u2019s history in front of a turn-of-the-20th-century\u00a0CEDAE<\/a>\u00a0water utility reservoir built by residents within the state park. Faced with the completed condominiums, as well as tensions within the community, Quilombo do Camorim is currently struggling to retain this knowledge and way of life.<\/p>\n

\"Camorim<\/a><\/p>\n

Environmental knowledge as resistance<\/h3>\n

Situated near the entrance of the Pedra Branca State Park<\/a>, part of the world’s largest urban forest and an important site for the conservation of Atlantic Forest biodiversity, and stretching throughout much of what is now Barra de Tijuca, Camorim\u2019s history dates back to the indigenous Tupi-Guarani<\/a> who inhabited the area prior to the Portuguese colonization of Brazil. The name Camorim comes from a fish that local inhabitants caught in the Jacarepagu\u00e1 Lagoon. When Salvador Correia de S\u00e1 the Elder, cousin of colonial governor Mem de S\u00e1, claimed the area for his plantation and sugar mill, he kept the local indigenous name.<\/p>\n

Though the road leading to Quilombo do Camorim is now lined with gated condominiums<\/a>, one of the lesser-known jewels of colonial architecture in Rio<\/a>, S\u00e3o Gon\u00e7alo do Amarante Chapel welcomes you as you enter the community. Built by enslaved Africans\u00a0in 1625 and retaining much of its original structure, the white and sky blue chapel is a testament to the continuous cultural production and occupation of the community by Afro-descendants. In 1965 the Cultural Heritage\u00a0Institute for the state of Rio de Janeiro recognized the chapel as a historic landmark and it was recently restored in 2000. The annex and square next to the church are also important spaces for ACUCA\u2019s cultural\u2014capoeira, jongo, maculele\u2014and environmental activities since the quilombo lacks a community center.<\/p>\n

\"Interior<\/a><\/p>\n

According to Almeida, the territory also boasts important archaeological sites. The original senzala<\/em>\u2014slave quarters\u2014located near the church still has some of its original structure, though it has been altered significantly by residents over\u00a0the years. Trails that are now part of the state park retrace the steps of those who fled and resisted slavery<\/a>. The remnants of their hideouts\u2014small caves, rock formations, and wattle and daub houses\u2014can be found throughout the forest on the way to\u00a0Pedra do Quilombo, a peak that served as an important lookout for the quilombolas<\/em>\u2014members of quilombo communities. \u201cThey were experts of this forest,\u201d affirms Almeida, and it was this knowledge\u00a0of their natural surroundings that enabled quilombola resistance in the region.<\/p>\n

\"Hideout<\/a><\/p>\n

Almeida and ACUCA continue this history of environmental expertise by offering guided tours of the community and state park. Almeida insists that visitors respect the nature reserve, and he has countless stories of unguided people contaminating the water supply by swimming in the reservoir or would-be bushwackers needing to be rescued by him and other members of the community when they venture off the trails of the over 12,500 hectare park. As stewards of their ancestral lands, ACUCA regularly hosts reforestation and park cleaning events, the most recent of which was on June 5 to commemorate World Environment Day.<\/p>\n

Camorim and Almeida are examples of the complexity of the history of slavery, race<\/a>, and racism<\/a> within Brazil. Though he strongly laments the fact, Almeida does not hide that he is the descendant of a capit\u00e3o do\u00a0mato\u00a0<\/em>(forest captain), an often black or mixed-raced man tasked with finding and returning runaway slaves. Almeida\u2019s great-grandfather, Caetano do Camorim, was even mentioned in Magalh\u00e3es Corr\u00eaa\u2019s early 20th century chronicles of then remote Jacarepagu\u00e1 and Barra, O Sert\u00e3o Carioca<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>or “Rio’s Hinterland.” \u201cI don\u2019t like to talk much about this but it is history. Unfortunately, a black man captured his brothers so that they could be whipped. This is part of my history but it\u2019s not my history. Today I struggle to maintain all of our history as a quilombo, all of our Afro-descendant traditions, all of our history alive, retold, and documented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Adilson<\/a><\/p>\n

Present day struggles: bureaucracy<\/h3>\n

Despite this deep historical, cultural, and environmental connection to the territory\u2014all heavily considered when determining quilombo status\u2014Quilombo do Camorim has yet to be granted collective title to their lands. In 2004 members of Camorim solicited recognition as a quilombo through the National Institute for Settlement and Agrarian Reform<\/a> (INCRA). \u201cThe process with [the federal authority] INCRA has been very difficult. I went to find out information and there wasn\u2019t much orientation,\u201d contends Almeida.<\/p>\n

In 2003,\u00a0a presidential decree divided the process of quilombo recognition into two stages involving two separate government agencies.\u00a0First, the Palmares Cultural Foundation<\/a>\u00a0(FCP) must register and recognize a community\u2019s self-identification as a quilombo. The community then begins a long process with INCRA to officially demarcate both the community and territory through an anthropologist-led technical report that can take anywhere from two to over five years to produce. Once INCRA has checked its\u00a0registries and approved the demarcated land, the institute\u00a0begins negotiations to repossess property from private holders who do not identify with the quilombola community.<\/p>\n

Though ACUCA first went to INCRA in 2004, they were not made aware that they needed to first register\u00a0with the FCP given the bureaucratic change and so the case was archived in 2009. ACUCA only received quilombo recognition from the FCP in 2014 and has recently reopened its original 2004 INCRA case, but that means ten years passed before Camorim\u2019s claims were effectively taken up by the government due to lack of accessible information and mismanagement.<\/p>\n

Though INCRA had recently made steps to better inform quilombola communities of their rights, ministerial changes under interim President Temer\u2014parts of the quilombo demarcation and titling process were recently\u00a0reassigned to the Office of the Chief of Staff in partnership with INCRA<\/a> and changes in the Secretary of Education could affect the already poorly implemented teaching of Afro-Brazilian history and culture<\/a>\u2014have left many fearful that these gains for Brazil\u2019s Afro-descendants will stall due to a muddled bureaucracy or be reversed due to powerful agricultural lobbies and members of the interim government who actively oppose quilombo territorial rights.<\/p>\n

Timing is essential for quilombo communities, which face both external and internal pressure. Shortly after Quilombo do Camorim was recognized by FCP in 2014, Living, a subsidiary of the Cyrela<\/a> construction group, began building on land claimed by the community. The nearly finished condominiums will house international journalists covering the Rio 2016 Olympics before joining a real estate market that has ushered in a nearly 224% increase in housing prices in the neighborhood according to research<\/a> by the Observat\u00f3rio das Metr\u00f3poles<\/a>. Almeida admits that trying at this point to reclaim the territory would be a bureaucratic and legal uphill battle. Instead he hopes for Cyrela to recognize the quilombo and, ideally, offer to build a community center for ACUCA\u2019s cultural activities and events, a request that ACUCA made to the city in February of 2014.<\/p>\n

\"Camorim<\/a><\/p>\n

In fact, none of the quilombos within the municipality of Rio de Janeiro that have been recognized by the Palmares Cultural Foundation\u2014Quilombo Pedra do Sal<\/a> in the Port Zone<\/a>, Quilombo Cafund\u00e1 Astrogilda<\/a> also in the Pedra Branca State park near Vargem Grande, and Quilombo Sacop\u00e3<\/a> in Lagoa in the South Zone<\/a>\u2014have received full collective title to their land. Only about 10% of Brazil’s more than 2,800 recognized quilombos<\/a> have received full title. Those that have full collective titles are overwhelmingly rural, in part due to a perception that affects both indigenous and Afro-descendant groups that\u00a0what is\u00a0traditional is necessarily rural.<\/p>\n

Because of their similar struggle for the recognition of their rights, livelihoods, and sense of territorial belonging, Quilombo do Camorim has been particularly supportive of the Vila Aut\u00f3dromo favela\u2019s fight against removals<\/a> in the face of the construction of the Olympic Park. Members of the capoeira group participated in a cultural occupation of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a> in November 2015.<\/p>\n

\"Capoeira<\/a><\/p>\n

Almeida understands the sense of territorial belonging that many in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo had: \u201cThe City removes them, but they want to do it to a place [Parque Carioca<\/a>, public housing near Camorim] that is totally different from their reality. As a representative of Quilombo do Camorim, for me, they are my brothers. They are in our territory; we should have a union, unite our struggles for the same goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fragmented future<\/h3>\n

The construction of condominiums in the area is not a recent development. The growth of Jacarepagu\u00e1 and Barra da Tijuca driven by real estate speculation over the last decades has seen people from outside of the quilombo settling in both the heart of the quilombo around the chapel and in the surrounding areas in\u00a0gated condominiums.<\/p>\n

This growth, however, has brought new social actors like the Evangelical churches that have created divisions<\/a> within the community. On May 28 and 29, ACUCA held an event inviting university professors, members of the community and members of the Evangelical church\u2014no leaders from the Catholic Church participated despite being invited\u2014to discuss tensions in the community and the possibilities for inter-religious dialogue. Many quilombolas lamented that their neighbors and family members had disassociated themselves from an Afro-Brazilian identity<\/a> due to the perception that capoeira and Candombl\u00e9<\/a> are \u201cmacumba\u201d or \u201cwitchcraft.\u201d Heloisa Helena Costa Berto<\/a>, a Candombl\u00e9 practitioner whose home and spiritual center in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo were demolished<\/a>, attended the event and echoed similar sentiments of feeling ostracized in the region for her role as a spiritual leader\u00a0and advocate for housing and Afro-Brazilian religious rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Almeida, those who take part in ACUCA cultural activities and events are typically from the nearby condos rather than from the community itself. Almeida estimates that only 20-30 families <\/a>within the quilombo territory identify as quilombola. Rosilane, Almeida\u2019s daughter, who also serves as the vice-president of ACUCA, recognizes her father\u2019s role as a living encyclopedia for the community: \u201cI need to learn more, he knows everything and it\u2019s important for the community that others learn our history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almeida understands his mission as one of leaving a legacy of Afro-Brazilian historical and cultural resistance for the youth not only of Quilombo do Camorim but of Rio and Brazil:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a [dance] choreography that we named sankofa, [symbolized by] a bird [that looks backwards], so we look backwards to find our origins, learn the good, bring it to the present, and build a better a future\u2026 The legacy is for the children, they need to learn about their own origins because they also contributed to the creation of Brazil. Everything that we see here in this forest is tied to a people who really fought to preserve it, they suffered, many died and were whipped, and now we have this cultural and environmental icon.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Though a cultural center would not restore the territory that the community has already lost, it may serve to preserve the historical, cultural, environmental, and political wealth that Quilombo do Camorim has cultivated for generations.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Reist is pursuing both a Masters in Public Policy and a PhD in Latin American Studies at Duke University. Her research looks at center-periphery dynamics, belonging and citizenship, and land rights in Rio’s favelas and quilombos.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas \u201cWe were a rural quilombo that became an urban quilombo,\u201d Adilson Batista Almeida explains as he describes the Quilombo do Camorim do Maci\u00e7o da Pedra Branca in Jacarepagu\u00e1, an area in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":29688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1267,1854,1290,1284,335,452,1329],"tags":[662,346,225,1895,169,504,2113,474,385,1561,1560,188,26,2114,569,1883,2112,288,1259,5,450,10,270,1715,279,21],"writer":[1716],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-29661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gentrificationwatch","8":"category-housingwatch","9":"category-civilsociety","10":"category-interviews-profiles","11":"category-policies","12":"category-rio20","13":"category-by-international-observers","14":"tag-afro-brazilian-culture","15":"tag-alto-camorim","16":"tag-barra-da-tijuca","17":"tag-camorim-quilombo","18":"tag-capoeira","19":"tag-culture","20":"tag-cyrela","21":"tag-environment","22":"tag-environmental-education","23":"tag-favela-tour","24":"tag-favela-tour-operator","25":"tag-history","26":"tag-housing-rights","27":"tag-incra","28":"tag-jacarepagua","29":"tag-jongo","30":"tag-maculele","31":"tag-mata-atlantica","32":"tag-mega-events","33":"tag-olympics","34":"tag-quilombo","35":"tag-real-estate-speculation","36":"tag-resistance","37":"tag-senzala","38":"tag-slavery","39":"tag-west-zone","40":"writer-stephanie-reist"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29661"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=29661"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=29661"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=29661"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=29661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}