Black Women against the Land Grab: The Fight for Racial Justice in Brazil

238 Pages·2013·5.35 MB·English

by  Keisha-Khan Y. Perry

Black Women against the Land Grab
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BBLLAACCKK WWOOMMEENN AAGGAAIINNSSTT TTHHEE LLAANNDD GGRRAABB
The Fight for Racial Justice in Brazil
KEISHA-KHAN Y. PERRY
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis | London
Portions of chapter 1 and chapter 3 were previously published as “The Black Movement’s ‘Foot
Soldiers’: Grassroots Feminism and Neighborhood Struggles in Brazil,” in Comparative Per-
spectives on Afro-Latin America, edited by Kwame Dixon and John Burdick, 219–40 (Gaines-
ville: University Press of Florida, 2012); reprinted with permission of the University Press of
Florida. Portions of chapter 3 and chapter 6 were previously published as “Politics Is uma Coi-
sinha de Mulher (a Woman’s Thing),” in Latin American Social Movements in the Twenty-First
Century, edited by Richard Stahler-Sholk, Harry E. Vanden, and Glen David Kuecker, 197–211
(Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008). Portions of chapter 3 were previously pub-
lished as “Social Memory and Black Resistance: Black Women and Neighborhood Struggles
in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil,” Latin Americanist 49, no. 1 (September 2005): 811–31, and as “The
Roots of Black Resistance: Race, Gender, and the Struggle for Urban Land Rights in Salvador,
Bahia, Brazil,” Social Identities 10, no. 6 (2004): 7–38. Portions of chapter 6 were previously
published as “‘If We Didn’t Have Water’: Black Women’s Struggle for Urban Land Rights in
Brazil,” Environmental Justice 2, no. 1 (March 2009): 9–14.
Excerpt from the Gamboa de Baixo neighborhood political hymn republished with permis-
sion of Ana Cristina da Silva Caminha. Excerpt from “o muro” by Oliveira Silveira republished
with permission of Naira Rodrigues Silveira. Excerpt from Medea Benjamin and Maisa Men-
donça, Benedita da Silva: An Afro-Brazilian Woman’s Story of Politics and Love (Oakland,
Calif.: Food First Books, 1997); republished with permission.
Copyright 2013 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, record-
ing, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Perry, Keisha-Khan Y.
Black women against the land grab : the fight for racial justice in Brazil /
Keisha Khan Y. Perry.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8166-8323-9 (hc)
ISBN 978-0-8166-8324-6 (pb)
1. Women, Black—Political activity—Brazil—Salvador. 2. Urban poor—Political activity—
Brazil—Salvador. 3. Blacks—Brazil—Salvador—Social conditions. 4. Urban renewal—
Brazil—Salvador. 5. Salvador (Brazil)—Politics and government. I. Title.
HQ1236.5.B6P47 2013
305.896'081—dc23 2013029575
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.

20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
INTRODUCTION Diasporic Blackness and Afro-Brazilian Agency xi
1. Engendering the Grassroots 1
2. The Gendered Racial Logic of Spatial Exclusion 27
3. The Black Movement’s Foot Soldiers 55
4. Violent Policing and Disposing of Urban Landscapes 87
5. “Picking Up the Pieces”: Everyday Violence and Community 117
6. Politics Is a Women’s Thing 139
CONCLUSION Above the Asphalt: From the Margins to the
Center of Black Diaspora Politics 169
References 179
Index 197
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In some ways the inspiration for this book began when I took Kim
Hall’s Introduction to Women’s Studies at Georgetown University as
an undergraduate. I express heartfelt gratitude to her. She ignited my
initial interest in black women’s thought and political practice, intro-
ducing me to the scholarship of Patricia Hill Collins, Audre Lorde,
Barbara Smith, and many other black feminist theorists who have in-
fluenced my personal politics and the framing of this book. Over the
years she has contributed her time by reading my work, applauding as
well as critiquing, and giving me crucial advice on how to be a serious
scholar and survive the academy.
As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. A village, led
by the village chief herself, my mother, Joy Anderson, has nurtured
my aspirations as an academic and my intellectual desires. She raised
me to be strong like her and the other women in our family. She has
taught, by example, how to persevere in the never-ending pursuit of
knowledge. She has raised my brothers, “teen prodigy” Kofi and “ar-
tiste extraordinaire” Emeka, to shower me with an abundance of love.
I also thank my father, Paul Perry, for instilling in me the meaning of a
proverb popular in Jamaica: “Labor for learning before you grow old,
for learning is better than silver or gold. Silver and gold will vanish
away, but a good education will never decay.”
Without Ana Cristina, one of the most important leaders of the
housing and land rights struggle in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, the re-
search for this book could not have been completed. Ana Cristina’s
assistance was priceless. The level of her political commitment to col-
lective social change and the breadth of her political influence in Sal-
vador’s grassroots networks are remarkable. I would be an exceptional
woman, activist, and scholar if I had only a spoonful of her courage.

Because of her, I decided to name the neighborhood and the activists
in this book rather than leaving them anonymous. I thank the members
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
of the Gamboa de Baixo neighborhood association who welcomed me
into their homes and hearts: Rita, Angela, Adriano, Lu, Lia, Boa Morte,
Nice, Lula, Joelma, Dona Iraci, Dona Lenilda, Dona Detinha, Dona
Marinalva, Ivani, and Maria José. I hope I have adequately told the
stories of their struggle to maintain peace in their community and the
city of Salvador. Special thanks go to Ritinha and my friends Simone,
Nicelia, and Luciana, who continue to ensure my trips to Salvador are
filled with good food, conversation, and laughter.
I am also beholden to Elizete da Silva, João Rocha, and Elizete’s niece
Janmile Cerqueira, who have been a constant source of encourage-
ment over the years. I am grateful for the friendship of Lazaro Cunha
and his family (Silvio, Ana Paula, Dona Silvia, and Marcia), who have
been good to me and the many other diasporic visitors I sent to them.
Ari Lima, Sales Augusto dos Santos, Vilma Reis, Isabelle Pereira, and
Lisa Earl Castillo have been great friends and colleagues in Brazil, and
their scholarship and intellectual exchanges shaped and benefited this
work.
This book would not have been possible without the intellectual
and personal support of the following people at the University of Texas
at Austin: Edmund T. Gordon, for his consistent generosity and in-
tellectual insights over more than a decade; Asale Angel-Ajani, who
deeply influenced my decision to foreground black women’s voices;
João Costa Vargas, who guided the development of my ideas on urban
space and politics; and Charlie Hale and Angela Gilliam, who encour-
aged me to think of Brazilians’ material reality as not so different from
those of black people globally. I thank Paula V. Saunders, my closest
friend and colleague while at the University of Texas at Austin. She
diligently read every page of my dissertation and taught me the true
meaning of friendship and sisterhood.
I credit Sônia Beatriz dos Santos with broadening my thinking
about Afro-Brazilian women and black Brazilian feminist thought.
Jennifer, Lisa, Miguel, Amanda, and the late Vincent Woodard gave
me the necessary community space to thrive as a scholar. Kahlil Hart,
the older brother we all should have, introduced me to the diverse
Caribbean community in Austin that offered a necessary respite from

campus life. I am grateful for his friendship and profoundly appreciate
his willingness to try to “reason” with me.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
Christen Smith, Erica Williams, Cheryl Sterling, Kim Butler, and
Kia Lilly Caldwell are African American Brazilianist scholars who have
shared the journey of conducting research in Salvador. Trimiko Mel-
ancon, Carol Bailey, and Jonathan Fenderson have supported me in
completing this book and in being successful as a young teacher and
scholar. Lamonte Aidoo, Ebony Bridgewell-Mitchell, Edizon León,
Michelle McKenzie, Lindah Mhando, Karen Flynn, Kamille Gentles-
Peart, Luis Ramos, Jermain McCalpin, Silvia Rodrigues, and Robyn
Spencer have been wonderful friends who have counseled me through
the rough times and helped me move forward.
This project has been supported by numerous research grants
and fellowships: the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate
Research Fellowship, the NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant, the
J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship (Brazil), the Mendenhall
Dissertation Fellowship, the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow-
ship at Smith College, and the Africana Research Center Postdoctoral
Fellowship at Pennsylvania State University. I have received funding
from the African and African American Studies Center, the Center
for Latin American Studies, and the Department of Anthropology at
the University of Texas at Austin and from the Africana Studies De-
partment, the Humanities Fund, the Center for Latin American and
Caribbean Studies, the Faculty Development Fund, and the Office of
International Affairs at Brown University.
I thank my colleagues in the Africana Studies Department at Brown
University: Anani Dzidzienyo, who read every page of the manuscript
draft and offered keen insights; Corey D. B. Walker, who has been cru-
cial in my understanding of theoretical contributions to black political
thought and Africana women’s studies; Deborah Bowen, a cherished
friend; and all of my colleagues (Chinua Achebe, Geri Augusto, Karen
Baxter, Anthony Bogues, Lundy Braun, Matthew Guterl, Françoise
Hamlin, Paget Henry, Alonzo Jones, Michael Ruo, Tricia Rose, Ruth
Simmons, Elmo Terry-Morgan, and John Edgar Wideman), who deeply
inspired this work. It is hard to imagine my dear sister, Dr. Aaronette
White, is not here to share this important achievement with me. This
book is just one small example of Aaronette’s enormous influence dur-

ing her short life.
Special thanks go to Margaret Copeley, Rhoda Flaxman, and Tatiana