CULTURAL QUILOMBOLA (RE)SIGNIFICATION AND (RE)INVENTION: THE AFRO-BRAZILIAN SPATIALITIES OF MARUJADA AND CURIANGO’S GROUP IN VALE DO JEQUITINHONHA-MINAS GERAIS-BRASIL

Abstract

The year 1988 was an important landmark for afro-brazilian communities, when, for the first time, their constitutional rights were accorded to their land and exploitation of their cultural practices. Since then, several communities were internally reorganized and externally articulated in order to rescue and revitalize the celebrations, festivities and traditions inherited from their ancestors. In this context, this paper seeks to reflect about the processes of cultural (re)signification and (re)invention in the maroon communities of Moça Santa, municipality of Chapada do Norte and Quilombo, municipality of Minas Novas, in Vale do Jequitinhonha/MG. The rescue and recovery of dances, songs and celebrations locally regarded as “traditional”, like the Curiango’s group in Moça Santa, and the Marujada’s group in Quilombo, gained acceptance from the recognition of these territories as Quilombo, mobilizing youth and adults to practice and dissemination their cultural expressions. Through empirical observations and reports from the field, you realize that the Curiango and Marujada groups are important symbolic and cultural references of these territories, contributing to integration and community cohesion, for affirmation of his afro-brazilian identity, and especially, for legitimation of his self - recognition as Quilombo.