Pretinhos, coquinhos e a jaqueira de Muquém: a construção da identidade étnico-racial das crianças e negras e quilombolas

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze how Black children and quilombola children construct their ethnic identities based on identitymarkerssuch asrace/color, hair, and territory/place (theQuilombo Muquém) in União dos Palmares, AL. Ethnography serves asthe methodological backbone, as we understand that thisresearch directsits perception towards a specific social group, marginalized in society, which in this case consists of Black children and quilombola children. Drawing on children’s literature, we sought to engage closely with the children participants, who helped us gain a better understanding of the aforementioned identity markers. At the end of the planned activities, we had a conversation with nine Black children and quilombola children to understand how they interact with the elders in the community, whether they like the community they belong to, and what relationship they establish with their hair, skin color, and other aspects that may arise during the conversation. The theoretical framework supporting these writings is based on studies that challenge the colonial thought order: it’s from Africa! It’s from the diaspora! It’s Afroquilombola! The authors who guide this research include Mbembe, Appiah, Nascimento, Gomes, Funari, Gennari, Reis and Gomes, Hall, Moreira, Almeida, Bernardino-Costa, Maldonado-Torres, Grosfoguel, Rosa, Pacheco, Petit, and Santos. The Preta, Ginga, and Griô pedagogies are other approaches that help us think about different ways of being, existing, resisting, and educating in Quilombola Community schools. Finally, we highlight the joy of discovering other elements that allow ethnic identities—formed from the racial relationships of Black children and quilombola children with other children, both Black and non-Black, as well as quilombola and nonquilombola children—to be constructed in the same way as we observe in the relationshipsthey establish with elders and artisans, and in the games both at school and within the community. This is Afroquilombamento!