Description
Book SynopsisUnder a provision in the Brazilian constitution, rural black communities identified as the modern descendants of quilombos—runaway slave communities—are promised land rights as a form of reparations for the historic exclusion of blacks from land ownership. The quilombo provision has been hailed as a success for black rights; however, rights for quilombolas are highly controversial and, in many cases, have led to violent land conflicts. Although thousands of rural black communities have been legally recognized, only a handful have received the rights they were promised. Conflict over quilombola rights is widespread and carries important consequences for race relations and political representations of blackness in twenty-first century Brazil.
Drawing on a year of field research in a quilombola community, Elizabeth Farfán-Santos explores how quilombo recognition has significantly affected the everyday lives of those who experience the often-complicated politica
Trade Review
"[A] brilliantly researched and argued book…a much-needed investigation of the differences between how state actors understand ideas of black land rights and how an Afro-Brazilian community effectively makes space on their own terms and in the process maintains a centuries-long commitment to sustaining themselves amidst racialized poverty." * AAG Review of Books *
"Black Bodies, Black Rights is…a case study of bureaucracy, race, power, and wealth in contemporary Brazil. For anyone who wants an illuminating look at these phenomena at the grass-roots level, this is the book to read." * Bulletin of Latin American Research *
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Acronyms
- Introduction: A “Problematic” Field
- 1. Black Heroes: Rewriting Black Resistance and Quilombo History
- 2. Black Identities: Conceiving Blackness and Quilombolismo
- 3. Black Lives: "We Are Quilombolas!"
- 4. Black Rights: Documentation, Proof, and Authenticity
- 5. Black Justice: Grande Paraguaçu and the Growing Fight for Quilombola Justice
- Conclusion
- Epilogue
- Notes
- References
- Index
