Territórios negros enquanto rugosidades: a inércia dinâmica da divisão racial do espaço em Rio Pomba - MG

Abstract

This research analyzes the presence of Black territories (Vieira, 2021) in Rio Pomba, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Based on a theoretical–conceptual debate, it mobilizes the concept of used territory (Santos, 2023a), which reveals tensions, uneven transformation processes, and cultural, economic, temporal, and racial diversity. This understanding is articulated with the concept of Black territories, understood as spaces that are used and appropriated by the Black population (Vieira, 2021), present throughout the entire socio-spatial formation of Brazil. This use of territory constitutes a process marked by the racial division of space resulting from racism (Gonzalez, 2020a), but also by forms of resistance, strategies, and Black identity that have been sustained over time, revealing symbolic and material roughness (Santos, 2023b). The methodology adopted in this research comprised bibliographic and documentary review, interviews, fieldwork, and mapping using Qgis software. In this analysis, we developed an understanding of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary as a Black territory due to its relationship with the Black population in both past and present periods. The church, as a materiality inherited from the past, performs an inert–dynamic function, as it plays an active role in socio-spatial processes, such as its proximity to predominantly Black residential areas and Afro-Brazilian cultural manifestations. Among these manifestations, we studied the Folia of Saint Sebastian and the Folia of the Kings, which are consistently mentioned throughout the research, despite having ceased to occur in recent years. Finally, in order to develop a proposal for the periodization of urbanization in Rio Pomba, we examined processes of selective modernization based on water supply networks, as well as the density of the Black population surrounding the church. Thus, we understand that throughout the periods analyzed there has been a persistence of the racial division of space across different historical moments, marked by two central factors: initially, the use of the Church of the Rosary by the Black population, and subsequently, access to water under precarious conditions. From this analysis, it was possible to comprehend the different forms of territorial use, elucidating place, intentionalities, groups, and interests (Santos & Silveira, 2006).