Reconhecimento étnico da comunidade de bastiões-Ceará (Brasil): rumores e conflitos

Abstract

Unraveling some aspects of the conflict involving the recognition of Bastiões, a black community located in the countryside of Ceará, Brazil, I analyze three moments in this paper. First, I present how the black community came to build its purported ethnic exclusivity in relation to others in their vicinity. Then, turning to rumors which arose at a precise moment along the history of the community, I consider the process of denial of this ethnic exclusivity when the black identity is put into question. Finally, I insist on the idea that the very rumors are responsible for the redefinition of demarcation criteria for ethnic identity