Territorialidade negra urbana em análise: produção do espaço no quilombo urbano da Liberdade e nos bairros da Madre Deus e Coroadinho em São Luís/MA

Abstract

This dissertation was developed within the scope of the Post-Graduate Program in Socio-spatial and Regional Development at the State University of Maranhão (PPDSR-UEMA) and aims to understand the implications of black territoriality in the production of space in black territories and neighborhoods, establishing as its empirical field the urban quilombo of Liberdade and the neighborhoods of Madre Deus and Coroadinho, black territories located in the city of São Luís/MA. These spaces exemplify the concepts of black territoriality, starting from the history of their formation to the identity and specific aspects of the place. Considering the context of the African diaspora, they are based on their own concepts and are fundamental examples for thinking about the urbanism created and produced in Brazil. In addition to the imposition of logics of degradation on black territories over the years, the spaces are conceived and perpetuated based on their own logics, which are different from hegemonic urban formulations, and are disregarded in urban development routes and in the history of Brazilian urbanism itself. The methodology used in this research is based on a decolonial orientation combined with the perspectives of Pan-Africanism and Afro-descendancy, in order to formulate the epistemological field based on a conceptual bibliographical study of theories of the production of space and black territory, a historical review of the formation of black Brazilian territories and neighborhoods, and then field research in the neighborhoods studied, using photos, maps and interviews with local residents. The conceptualizations and bibliographic surveys, together with the information gathered in loco in the communities, led to discussions about the perception of territories as going beyond shortcomings, being conceived and maintained through their own logics of production of black and Afro-descendant territory, related to their common origin.