Ao abrigo da tradição? : identidade e sustentabilidade em comunidades litorâneas do Ceará com regimes de proteção do território

Abstract

Coastal communities in the Northeast region of Brazil suffer pressure from various angles, threatened as they are in they customary rights by powerful representatives of other uses of the territory, at the same time as their inhabitants struggle to redefine their positions in a rapidly changing society, ever more present, more imposed and more called upon. The construction of large resorts and other privatized leisure facilities in front of the sea, the occupation of space by weekend houses, the establishment of wind generator parks in the dunes and on the beaches and the invasion of mangroves by shrimp farming companies are some of the most visible current threats to the survival of these communities. In interaction with these economically profitable activities that are being established on the northeast coast of Brazil, the abandonment of traditional activities in favor of jobs away from the dominion of the communities, the forgetting of the own history and identity in favor of a little critical loyalty to the unifying discourse of dominant society, and the internal conflict originating from these evolutions have come to weaken even more these communities' power of selfgovernance and auto-definition of their future. In the present work, we will build upon open interview and participant observation data to research the construction process of identities and environmental consciousness in the Quilombola community of Cumbe and the Extractive Reserve of Batoque, in the context of these collective territorial protection regimes. The community of Batoque, that has turned into an Extractive Reserve as part of its struggle against large landowners, continues to be divided in relation to the presence of vacationers and concomitant land-selling – an activity that has become illegal. The community of Cumbe, located in the municipality of Aracati, is in the process of emancipation from a long history of occupation – with shrimp farming and wind energy generation as its current representatives – by way of the recognition as Quilombo. While the recognition of the community's rights over the traditionally used territory would mean a historical rupture that, for the first time, would put the community in control, the process is hampered by internal conflicts, with opposition of shrimp farm employees. All in all, identity shows to be an important tool for the communities to defend their unity and their territories, although it is far from a panacea. Internally, it helps to motivate the community to define common interests and to organize the efforts. Towards the outside, it promotes the recognition of legal rights and the acceptance by greater society of the communities' goals.