THE BLACKS OF PEDRA D’ÁGUA

Abstract

The book carried out a ethnoghraphic journey around the construction of the ethnic identity of the blacks of Pedra d'Água from the uses of the territory composing a complex tessitura that involved the narratives of origin. In its structure, it was composed of five dense chapters that begins with an explanation about the methodological paths of the research and about the process of approximation of the researcher with the families and with the residents chosen as informants of the research. The research was defined as a case study and a consistent ethnographic study (Geertz 1978), thanks to the researcher's stay in the community during the research, which allowed a good description of the research terrain and resident families, beginning by gathering the oral narratives of the elders about the origin of the community that converged to a common ancestor, Manuel Paulo Grande. The ethnography produced throughout the chapters reveals the multiple aspects of everyday life of a community of farmers and animal breeders, starting with relations with the territory from the founding ancestor, great-grandfather and common great-grandfather of almost all families who lived there. As a result, a comprehensive portrait of the everyday life of Pedra d'Água families was drawn, revealing the internal dynamics of families, as well as external and interethnic relations with neighboring communities and rural properties.