Feel, live and make the black city

world-senses and black epistemologies about and since Engenho Velho da Federação, Salvador - Bahia

Abstract

The elaboration of this essay sought to create and sew narratives – textual and visual – about the apprehension and reading methodologies of Engenho Velho da Federação, subject-object of proposed investigation. It is possible to understand the neighborhood Engenho Velho da Federação and the city of Salvador as black territories originating and formed from the experience- process of the African diaspora. If, on the one hand, Salvador is considered the “blackest city outside Africa”, on the other hand, Engenho Velho da Federação is considered one of the black neighborhoods of the city, especially due to the presence and strong expression of Afro-descendant cultures and practices, for example terreiros de candomblé. In this sense, the work uses the world-senses and epistemologies that emerge from the diverse traditions of African origin found in the spaces of terreiros, appropriating the languages of these territories to make the narratives stitch. And, it makes use of an “afro epistemological” triad [Terreiro – Path - Crossroads] as a conceptual and analytical device, to unveil transported, resignified and reinvented spaces-times in the construction of these afro-diasporic territories found in the black city.