Cultura, redes e valores em uma comunidade quilombola: o coletivo bordando resistência como iniciativa de empreendedorismo social feminino

Abstract

Female social entrepreneurship in traditional territories articulates income generation and the valorization of identity, being sustained by networks built upon shared values, reciprocity, and trust. This study aimed to understand how historical-cultural elements, cooperation, and shared values structure the Bordando Resistência Collective as a female social entrepreneurship initiative in the quilombola community of Alto Alegre. The research is justified by the need to expand the academic and social visibility of initiatives led by quilombola women, analyzing the organizational, relational, and identity-based dimensions that sustain their actions. This research adopts a case study approach, having the enterprise itself as the unit of analysis, understood in its organizational, relational, and identity dimensions, based on semi-structured interviews and the application of sociometric generators. The theoretical framework combines the distinction between strong and weak ties proposed by Granovetter (1973) and the resource typology developed by Brush, Greene, and Hart (2001). The study integrates Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Content Analysis (Bardin, 2016). The results show that the collective emerged from a previous community-based educational experience, the Projeto Libertando, and re-signifies embroidery as a cultural, political, and identity-based language, articulating income generation, quilombola memory, and resistance. The internal network is characterized by high cohesion and relational density, supported by strong ties of trust, care, and belonging, while the external network presents an egocentric configuration, in which weak ties expand opportunities, visibility, and access to institutional and cultural resources without compromising community autonomy. Financial, human, technological, social, symbolic, and intangible resources were identified as being mobilized in a solidarity-based manner, guided by shared values such as unity, friendship, trust, respect, persistence, and resistance. It is concluded that the sustainability of Bordando Resistência results from the dynamic articulation between community embeddedness and relational openness, mediated by cooperation networks and shared values that structure female social entrepreneurship within the quilombola territory.