Comunidades quilombolas: elementos conceituais para sua compreensão

Abstract

This paper presents an introductory systematization about the main theoretical discussions about quilombola communities. The text, of bibliographic character, points out some theoretical conceptual elements that help us to understand these communities. The term quilombola appears for the first time in the Constitution of 1988. In the context of the political debates, a wide interpretative discussion about its semantic content was opened, since an interpretative ambiguity loomed over it. We present the two theoretical perspectives that were constituted to explain the issues related to the definition of quilombola communities. In this article we point out some theoretical-conceptual elements that help us understand the quilombolas, understood by us as an ethnic group. It is a bibliographic text that intends to contribute with the understanding of the current discussions about the quilombola communities. We first approach the process of producing ethnicity. In the sequence, we present theoretical concepts that allow us to take the quilombolas as an ethnic group.