Mulheres quilombolas na lida com o ouriço e a roça nas florestas e rios amazônicos

Abstract

In the quilombola communities in/from the Amazonian areas of Vale do Guaporé-RO, collecting sea urchins, in the rainy months, is one of the activities that governs the family economy since the 19th century, in addition to work in the fields for planting cassava, coffee, beans, annatto, sugar cane and corn. A relationship of interdependence between social groups, through a credit/debt system called “toco” or barracão, which has been maintained since colonial times. With regard to work in the fields, the men are responsible for digging and the women for the work of whitewashing and cultivation of plantations. They were teachings received from their ancestors, governed by the cycles of forests and rivers, and passed on from generation to generation in the daily lives of families. It is possible to observe a division of labor despite women participating in all stages, from productive activities to those considered domestic, naturalized throughout history. In this perspective, this study investigates social relations between men and women, highlighting the division of labor as a central factor for the invisibility of women in the productive system dealing with the hedgehog and the garden. Three women and two men who were born and raised in quilombola communities in the Guaporé Valley (Pedras Negras and Porto Rolim) were heard, making a total of five narrators. The study dialogues with Bandeira (1988); Priore (2004); Hampaté Bâ (2010); Davis (2016); Perrot (2017); Kilomba (2019), among others. The results allowed an interpretation about female participation and power relations established between men and women in the Amazon Forest that, in one way or another, make up the framework of sexist construction since time immemorial and that can explain an asymmetrical relationship between the groups.

Keywords: Work relationships; Quilombola women; Guapore Valley.