Quilombola Women: book reinforces the importance of representativeness

“I want to say that through these books we are bringing anti-racist education to schools. It will be a new context, after all, the only thing we have in textbooks about blacks is slavery. It is through education that we will put an end to structural racism and create society’s respect for the black and quilombola population”, says Sandra Maria da Silva Andrade, from Quilombo Carrapatos da Tabatinga, in Bom Despacho, Minas Gerais.

The work is coordinated by the philosopher, black feminist, writer and Brazilian academic, Djamila Ribeiro. In the organization, the state coordinator of the Quilombola Communities of Espírito Santo – Zacimba Gaba, Selma dos Santos Dealdina.

For the organizer, the literary market makes black writers unfeasible, especially black women. “Djamila provides Brazil with a look at black literature that we had not tried before. Talking about structural racism is only possible because of the visibility of black literature,” she points out.

Selma is also coordinator of the Women’s Collective of the National Coordination of Articulation of Rural Black Quilombola Communities – Conaq.

The Brazilian literary sector produced 391 million copies – 84% of which were reprints – of 48,000 titles. The data are results of the surveys Production and Sales – PeV and Digital Content of the Brazilian Publishing Sector, carried out in 2021.

“The racist imaginary is present in Brazilian society. People believe that we, black authors, write just for ourselves, but no, we write for everyone”, says Gessiane Nazário, from Quilombo da Rasa, in Armação dos Búzios, in Rio de Janeiro.

Gessiane wrote another book called “Revolta do Cachimbo: the struggle for land in Quilombo da Caveira”, which will be released in Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro.

Valéria Pôrto dos Santos, from Quilombo Pau D’arco and Parateca, in Malhada, Bahia, explains that ‘quilombar-se’ is important to fight racism in Brazil. “The quilombamento is a process of reclaiming our people. Aquilombar is to show the diversity and what we produce. In this way, we can contribute to a better and less racist society”, says Valéria.

Synonym of resistance

For Djamila, the book addresses the synonym of strength and representativeness. “The result was very beautiful because it highlights the protagonism of these women. It is the first work in Brazil published and organized by quilombolas with a label coordinated by a black woman, Sueli Carneiro. The importance of this book is to show our plurality and bring people from other regions of the country, after all we have a very southeastern logic. In the collection we have authors from Bahia, Piauí, Pará, Pernambuco and other places”, she emphasizes.