Rural black communities in areas occupied by the Armed Forces in Brazil (after 1964): a challenging synthesis

Abstract

The objective of this article is to reflect on the history of agrarian conflicts in regions traditionally occupied by rural black populations following the militarized occupation by the armed forces during the dictatorial period in Brazil (1964-1988) and the resistance of families throughout the subsequent decades, later recognized as “remnant quilombo communities”. This is the case of the quilombola community on Ilha da Marambaia, for example. The aim is to understand the articulation between the militarized occupation of traditional black territories during the military dictatorship (Dreifuss, 2006) and the historical process of conservative modernization of the Brazilian countryside throughout the 20th century, characterized by the persistence of forms of land concentration, for the strengthening of modern rural enterprise and the fraying of peasant relations in the country.