Expansion of Tourism, Territorial Conflicts and Quilombola Resistance in Baixo Sul da Bahia

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the contemporary emergence of a set of conflicts involving quilombola communities in the Baixo Sul da Bahia, a region located in the northeastern Brazilian coast. Although they may be directly associated with the process of land speculation linked to the recent advance of tourist interest in the region, these conflicts also have an intrinsic relationship with a series of historical political practices that show that these communities have been experiencing constant expropriation of access to nature and permanence in the territories, being excluded from their traditional practices. The history of the Baixo Sul is marked by the presence of a black peasantry that, starting in 2003, began to recognize itself as a quilombola, accessing the institutional channels opened by the federal government to guarantee rights and public policies. Thus, although the process of fighting for territory is a long one, this article focuses on the most recent period of the last four decades, aiming mainly to present connections and elements that help to understand the conflicts for territory that are present in the region today. To this end, the case of two quilombola communities will be presented in order to exemplify the contemporaneity, continuity, and violence of the process of expropriation of rural communities in the Baixo Sul. Through research data collected from fieldwork, bibliographical materials, as well as other selected sources, this article discusses the process of land speculation and the expansion of tourism ventures in the region, highlighting the forms of appropriation of territory, population and nature, as well as strategies of resistances that the communities use while facing the advance of the tourism industry.