“Do barro vem, para o barro volta”: uso tradicional dos recursos e a luta de ceramistas por autonomia e direitos territoriais em Itamatatiua, Alcântara, Maranhão

Abstract

This research was conducted in the Itamatatiua community, municipality of Alcantara, in the State of Maranhão (Brazil) and focused on the women that identify themselves as “potters” (ceramistas). They practice clay drawing in the natural fields of the Baixada Maranhense without causing ecological imbalance or environmental damage. For this purpose, these women organize themselves in associations that are responsible for the extraction of lumber, as well as transportation of the trunk used to lift the mast for the Saint Tereza festival. Through ethnographic work it was possible to note that such conservationist practices of clay drawing provided the conditions for continuous reproduction of different plant species in the fields. By accompanying the practices for “dish” (louças) making – which is the designation given by women potters for artifacts and pieces they produce – it was possible to understand that this artisanal activity is not disconnected to the struggle for land maintenance or for territorial rights of that quilombola community. Along with the ethnographic description of the “dish making” (feitura de louças) process I also tried to analyze the perspective of women potters before the possibility for inviolability of their territory. Furthermore, I realized that these women are important social agents who stand at the front line of an extermination project. These women manage to keep standing the palm tree, the houses, the fields and the bodies of their sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, great-grandsons and great-granddaughters, nephews and nieces, godchildren, besides households, as their networks of support and affection are not limited to blood ties and kinship.