Territoriality and sociobiodiversity in the productive area configuration of Olho d’água dos Negros Community in the city of Esperantina-PI

ABSTRACT

This article presents reflections that grant the comprehension of the relation between the local knowledge and the handling and use of the natural resources in the organization of the productive areas of the Olho d’Água dos Negros, a Quilombola's community, located in the city of Esperantina in Piauí. The area organization was analyzed, assembling socioeconomic and cultural symbolic elements, and the relation between the sociobiodiversity in the vegetal extraction, with emphasis on Buruti (a local fruit), on the environment preservation and valorization of the local knowledge. About ethnography and qualitative aspects, participative mapping was used in order to understand the patters of the land use. The land conquest process, allied with social movements, strengthened the ethnic identity and the politic mobilization searching public policy in favor of social conquests for the community. It was seen that the productive area is limited to self-use production, with reduced agricultural activity and underuse of vegetal extraction products. The pound, assorted backyard area, is the kind of use that grows in the community, in which the “buritizal” (buriti cultivation), fulfils the ecological function of preserving olho d’ água and its path. However, in the extraction, this fruit is underused, utilized just in natura.

Keywords:
Quilombola; Community; Territoriality; Sociobiodiversit; Land Handling; Buriti