QUILOMBO AS A CONCEPT IN MOTION OR QUILOMBISM AND UBUNTU:

AFRICAN ANCESTRAL PRACTICES TO RETHINK PEDAGOGICAL AND JUSTICE PRACTICES

Abstract

Based on the studies by Beatriz Nascimento [1985; 1987], who understands quilombo as a concept in motion, I intend to present some reflections on the importance of this understanding in order to rethink our pedagogical and justice practices. In the field of justice, this concept allows the understanding of the processes of formation of historical and contemporary quilombos in Africa and the diaspora. In the dialogue with the theories of justice and education, this concept also allows the identification of ubuntu philosophy (Ramose, 1999; São Bernardo 2016) in these territories, considering that the identity and ways of doing these communities are fundamentally collective and interdependent. In this sense, quilombism, as advocated by Abdias Nascimento (1980), enables the identification and development of pedagogical practices based on ancestral knowledge of African origin that aim to strengthen this type of humanity expressed in quilombos, which is (only) understood as a collectivity, whose existential dynamics occurs in movement and unity with the elements of nature. Following the perspective of valuing these knowledges and practices, the studies shared here demonstrate the potential to rethink our pedagogical and justice practices, based on the mode of humanity expressed and valued in quilombista territories, in order to feed worlds in which our full dignity is effectively contemplated.