In the Tongue of the Earth: Cosmologies, Titling, and the Planted and Woven Law from the Fields of the Quilombo of Empata Viagem in Maraú, Bahia
Quilombo; Land Regularization; Traditional Cosmologies; Anti-Colonialism; Quilombola Rights
This study investigates the processes of land titling and territorial rights in the Quilombo of Empata Viagem, in Maraú/BA, through an intersectional approach that intertwines cosmologies, quilombola resistance, and land rights.The research is anchored in the concept of 'Right Found in the Street,' formulated by Lyra Filho and developed by José Geraldo de Sousa Júnior and other researchers, which investigates the emergence and fostering of law from various popular struggles, including both urban and rural movements. The 'Right Planted and Woven in the Quilombo's Land' presents itself as a possible theoretical development, focusing on the legal and normative practices that arise from the ancestral, cosmological, and political relationship of quilombolas with their land. 1 From this perspective, the research examines community organization, the challenges of land regularization, and the legal strategies adopted by the community in the fight for official recognition of their territory. Using a decolonial and counter-colonial approach, the study analyzes the actions of state bodies such as the Palmares Cultural Foundation and INCRA, as well as the bureaucratic and political obstacles that delay the titling process. The study emphasizes the centrality of land in the constitution of quilombola identity, not only as a means of subsistence but as a space for ancestry, sociability, and cultural reproduction. The methodology used is based on participant observation and action-research, enabling the construction of knowledge that emerges from the experiences and lived realities of the researcher herself, a member of the studied territory. It concludes that the quilombola struggle for titling transcends the state legal sphere and is framed as an ongoing process of resistance, self-determination, and reterritorialization in the face of persistent colonial structures.