XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Black Diaspora, Transnational Quilombo: The Black Geography of Beatriz Nascimento in Ôrí and Rosana Paulino in The Sewing of Memory

• In Event: Recasting Brazilian and World Literature Perspectives I

Abstract

The documentary Ôrí (1989), directed by Rachel Gerber, explores the Brazilian Black movement from 1977-1988. The film visually develops the Black Brazilian historian and activist Beatriz Nascimento's concept of “quilombo” as a signifier for black resistance and solidarity that goes beyond the historical meaning. This manuscript explores Ôrí to show that the quilombo is fundamentally transnational fostering solidarity between different locations in the Global South. As suggested by the documentary, I argue that current Black Studies discussions on resistance and the possibility of other worlds must sustain the transnational connections that Nascimento presented. This manuscript shows how the black Brazilian visual artist Rosana Paulino reiterates Beatriz Nascimento's ideas in The Sewing of Memory (2018) exhibition. As Nascimento, Paulino uses visual art to (re)connect black bodies and spaces reconstructing and at the same time re-signifying history. I argue that Paulino makes a quilombo, a space of afro-diasporic encounters and resistance. To account for the complexity of Nascimento representation of the black diaspora, I put The Sewing of Memory and Ôrí's images and lines in conversation with important voices in Black Studies, like Abdias do Nascimento, Lélia Gonzalez, Aimé Césaire, Lélia Gonzalez, Edouard Glissant, among others. These dialogues show that transnational connections should also be treated as an approach within Black Studies.

Author

• Ana Claudia Dos Santos Sao Bernardo, Providence College