Quilombola Youth of Jambuaçu Occupy, Construct, and Strengthen Alternative Spaces and Pedagogies

This article aims to analyze how the Quilombola Youth of Jambuaçu occupy and construct alternative spaces and pedagogies to strengthen the struggle in defense of their territory. The study results from an engaged research process and lived experiences in collective participation spaces, particularly with the Quilombola Youth Movement of Jambuaçu, through observant participation (Bruce Albert; Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, 2015). The findings show that the Quilombola youth of Jambuaçu organize themselves strategically to access and contest institutionalized knowledge spaces, such as schools and universities. From within these spaces, they update their strategies of resistance and struggle. In addition to this, the youth recognize the importance and necessity of creating alternative spaces that value ancestral knowledge and practices, with their own pedagogies to strengthen Quilombola identity and the defense of territory. Thus, they have created the Perpetuar Project, Quilombotecas, and the Quilombola Roots Memory Center of São Manoel. These spaces, with their unique pedagogical approaches, contribute to reconnecting Quilombola leaders with their histories, identities, cultures, and traditional ways of life. They foster ancestral (re)encounters, offer critical readings of their realities, and help identify threats and oppressive elements that must be radically transformed from the root.

Keywords:
Quilombola Movement; Youth Protagonism; Ancestral Education; Territoriality