Entry Questions
.Describe the condition in which Africans traveled from Africa to the Americas. (Brewer, 74)
.What is the connection between the annihilation of Indian populations and the capture and forced labor imposed on Africans in the Caribbean and Latin America? (Brewer, 75)
.Discuss the development of the plantation (forced labor camps) economy in the Americas (Brewer, 75-76)
Quilombos: a Historical Context
Runaway slaves were called cimarrones, and when enough cimarrones could gather together in one place in Brazil’s interior wilderness, they sometimes established their own communities called quilombos. A quilombo was simply a settlement comprised of runaway Africans, where they set up African-style “governments” and practiced African-based religions. They often sent out marauding parties to invade nearby Brazilian towns and villages, stole from travelers, freed other slaves, and, on rare occasions, declared war on Portuguese settlements. And like in Africa, there is evidence that slavery was actually practiced in quilombos, although not in the same manner as was practiced by the Portuguese on the coasts. African slavery inside quilombos was usually never perpetual or hereditary, and slaves were not considered property.
The most famous quilombo in Brazil was in Pernambuco. This quilombo was named Palmares. It was formed around 1600 when the Dutch invaded the northern Brazilian coastline and caused such an uproar that hundreds of slaves were able to escape into the interior while their masters were occupied with repelling the Dutch. By the end of the 1600s, Palmares had a population of around 30,000 spread throughout several associated communities. They worked as farmers, artisans, and warriors and established their own government. The most famous leader of Palmares was a man named Ganga Zumba, a runaway slave who was supposedly elected to his position through a quasi-democratic election process. (Brewer, 78-79)
Palmares existed for nearly a century before the Brazilian military’s final conquest in 1695. Wealthy plantation owners in Pernambuco and the city of Recife funded the military expeditions that were sent out to exterminate the community of runaway slaves. After nearly 20 attempts, the Portuguese were finally successful in capturing a later leader of Palmares named Zumbi and beheading him in 1695. But even after the demise of Palmares, slaves continued to run away and set up new smaller quilombos where they hoped to avoid attracting as much attention. (Brewer, 79)
Why is preserving and learning about maroon practices and quilombos in Brazil and the Americas vital? Use the chatbox to respond.
Keywords
Euromodernity is the multiple structures (political, social, racial, legal, religious, economical, philosophical, educational, discursive, etc.) established in Europe, especially after 1492, and brought to the Americas via conquest (war) and colonialism.
Marronage consists of flight from the plantation and establishing a new society that was a product of the fugitives’ syncretic social and political imagination. But it also refers to flight from oppressive institutions through permanent institutional reconfiguration (revolutions) as well as to an existential state of Being outside of colonial structures (coloniality.) (2)
Presentations:
A
B
Group Question
Marronage, as practiced by those residing in Palmares, was a flight from the Euromodern world to affirm another world, in addition to flight as self-preservation from premature death in bondage.
Using examples from the film Quilombo, discuss how the maroons created a world outside the Portuguese colonial world. Consider the political, cultural, ecological, gender, and social practices portrayed in the film.
How does the maroon society differ from the colonial society?
Maroon Logics as Ecological Thought and Practice
They reject the idea that individualism is the best way to live, which is a key flaw in modern European thinking. Instead, maroon thinking emphasizes the importance of the community because survival depends on everyone working together.
Community isn’t just about people helping each other—it includes all living things. People are born into specific places and ecosystems where plants, animals, and humans rely on each other. When survival is threatened, it becomes clear that every living thing is part of the community.
How does the film demonstrate maroon logic as an ecological practice?
In-class written reflection
Option One
Enslaved people, whose fundamental rights were taken away by slavery, didn’t just reject slavery. They first stood up for their own humanity, and by doing that, they also rejected the system that tried to dehumanize them.
In which ways does the film Quilombo show maroons’ practices as an affirmation of their humanity? Refer to scenes, songs, choreographies, or ideas the film presents.
Option Two
Freedom for enslaved people meant fighting to live and staying true to their way of life despite challenging circumstances. African-descended enslaved people teamed up with Indigenous groups, working together to create new traditions and systems. This blending happened because both groups were struggling to survive under extreme threats.
How does the film Quilombo illustrate this definition? Refer to scenes, songs, choreographies, or ideas the film presents.
Option Three
Freedom can mean choosing to live in a way that rejects outside ideas forced on you and instead values your own culture and identity. Marronage is about escaping European ideas of modern life. It focuses on putting the community first instead of the individual because survival depends on working together.
Discuss how, in Quilombo, the community becomes a central character that works towards a free space separated from the colonial government. Refer to scenes, songs, choreographies, or ideas the film presents.
Conclusion
African slavery in the New World was a terrible period in the history of the hemisphere. African peoples were ripped from their homes, families, and ways of life, only to be sent across an ocean and into a harsh life of servitude, punishment, and misery. The African slave trade increased in importance and economic opportunity during the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. In the early 1500s, when the slave trade was just beginning to reach the New World, Africans comprised less than 5 percent of all trade across the Atlantic Ocean. But by the early 1800s, slavery had risen to nearly 30 percent of all Atlantic trade. The results for countries in the Caribbean and South America are still evident today (Brewer, 79).