African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
247 p., Related black communities claim different ethnoracial identities based in laws. Anthropologists widely agree that identities - even ethnic and racial ones - are socially constructed. This book shows how law can successfully serve as the impetus for the transformation of cultural practices and collective identity.
Chicago: University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
272 p., Analyzes the relations between macropolitical changes and the lives of people in Alcantara. Chapters detail: (1) the changing social, economic, and ecological lives of Alcantara's villagers; (2) the contested effects of recent multicultural governance in Brazil--specifically remanescentes das comunidades dos quilombos (escaped-slave descended communities); (3) how state-sanctioned experts in Alcantara help shape people's understanding of the region's deep social inequality; and (4) the circulation of rumors of US plans to undermine Brazil's space program and invade the Amazon forest.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
1 videocassette (45 min.), Documentary on the rural communities in Alcântara, Brazil (in the state of Maranhão), descendants of the quilombos founded by Blacks who had escaped from slavery. The documentary explores the communities' historical narratives, rituals, festivals, use of land and natural resources, and describes the displacement of families for the construction and expansion of the Centro de Lançamento de Alcântara (a launching base for rockets and satellites).
