Decolonizing the Northeast: Brazilian Subalterns, Non-European Heritages, and Radical Geography in Pernambuco

Abstract

This article addresses histories and geographies of the northeast of Brazil in the works of radical Pernambuco geographer Manuel Correia de Andrade and his main intellectual inspirations, such as Euclides da Cunha and Josué de Castro. Drawing on current literature on subaltern spaces, critical race studies, and the Modernity–Coloniality–Decoloniality project, I especially consider de Andrade’s works that address popular revolts by marginalized and racialized groups in Brazilian history, including the plurisecular saga of black slaves’ quilombos and their role in the abolition of slavery, as well as the formation of Brazilian territories. My main argument is that the marginalized groups analyzed in these works, similar to more studied cases such as Haiti’s revolutionaries, provided examples of subaltern agency and resistance by taking their freedom by themselves, through direct action, without waiting for legitimation from their European counterparts. Subaltern spaces, intended as spaces of resistance, are key to understanding these movements. The fact that members of the radical circuits of Brazilian and Pernambucan geography in the second half of the twentieth century showed awareness of what today is called the coloniality of power and colonial difference accounts for the effectiveness of studying linguistically and culturally different geographical traditions to decolonize (Western and English-speaking) academia. Key Words: alternative geographical traditions, decolonial turn, northeast of Brazil, quilombos, subaltern space.

本文处理伯南布哥州激进的地理学者安德拉（Manuel Correia de Andrade）作品中的巴西东北部的历史与地理，及其主要的知识启发，诸如欧克利迪斯．达库尼亚（Euclides da Cunha）与约绪．德．卡斯特罗（Josué de Castro）。我运用当前有关从属空间、批判种族研究，以及现代性—殖民性—去殖民性计画的文献，特别考量安德拉处理巴西历史中被边缘化和种族化的群体的民众起义之研究，包括黑奴的基隆布之多世纪传说，与其在废除奴隶制中扮演的角色，以及巴西领土的形成。我的主要论点是，这些研究所分析的被边缘化之群体，类似于更常被研究的海地革命之案例，提供了从属者通过直接行动、而非等待其欧洲相应者的正当化，自行争取自身自由的从属者能动性与反抗之案例。从属空间，意指抵抗的空间，是理解这些运动的关键。二十世纪后半叶时，巴西与伯南布哥地理中激进同盟的成员，展现出今日称之为权力的殖民性与殖民差异的体认之事实，说明了研究语言和文化上不同的地理传统以对（西方与英语系）学术界进行去殖民的有效性。关键词: 另类地理传统, 去殖民转向, 巴西东北部, 基隆布, 从属空间。

Este artículo aborda las historias y geografías del nordeste del Brasil en los trabajos del geógrafo radical de Pernambuco Manuel Correia de Andrade y sus principales inspiraciones intelectuales, tales como Euclides da Cunha y Josué de Castro. A partir de la literatura actual sobre espacios subalternos, estudios críticos de raza y el proyecto Modernidad–Colonialidad–Descolonialidad, tomo en cuenta especialmente los trabajos de Andrade referidos a las revueltas populares de grupos marginados y racializados en la historia brasileña, incluyendo la saga plurisecular de los quilombos de los esclavos negros y su rol en la abolición de la esclavitud, lo mismo que en la formación de los territorios brasileños. Mi argumento central es que los grupos marginados que se analizan en estos trabajos, similares a casos más estudiados como los de los revolucionarios de Haití, suministran ejemplos de agencia subalterna y resistencia al tomar ellos mismos su libertad, por medio de acción directa, sin esperar legitimación de sus contrapartes europeas. Los espacios subalternos, pensados como espacios de resistencia son clave para entender estos movimientos. El hecho de que durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX miembros de los circuitos radicales de la geografía brasileña y pernambucana mostraran conciencia de lo que hoy se denomina la colonialidad del poder y la diferencia colonial, explica la efectividad de estudiar lingüística y culturalmente las diferentes tradiciones geográficas para descolonizar la academia (occidental y angloparlante).

Palabras clave:

• espacio subalterno
• giro descolonial
• nordeste del Brasil
• quilombos
• tradiciones geográficas alternativas.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Alun Jones for his rereading and his suggestions. In Brazilian matters, I need to acknowledge all of the members of the Network Rede Brasilis and of the USP Laboplan and especially Breno Viotto Pedrosa, Fábio Betioli Contel, and Guilherme Ribeiro for all of the fruitful conversations I had with them. I also especially acknowledge the three anonymous readers for the Annals and Editor Nik Heynen for their great suggestions and insights.

Notes

1 This is not to be confused with the English edition Geography of Hunger, a book that corresponded indeed to de Castro’s (1951) later work Geopolítica da Fome. In this article, all quotes from texts in Portuguese or Spanish have been translated by the author.

2 Two of the numerous definitions used in Brazil to describe the different “mixture” degrees of people having some miscegenation between Europeans, blacks, or Indigenous in their descent.

3 São Paulo, Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros (IEB) Acervo Milton Santos, MS-RS-80-029 [Correia de Andrade] to Santos, 5 April 1980.

4 IEB, Acervo Caio Prado Junior, CPJ-CP-AND001, de Andrade to Prado, 24 February 1945.

5 IEB, Acervo Manuel Correia de Andrade (hereafter MCA), Caixa 36, Chilcote to de Andrade, 20 August 1967. The location of letters from de Andrade’s collection corresponds to the provisional folders that the author consulted in May 2017. The inventory of these materials is ongoing and the numbering of some boxes might have changed.

6 IEB-MCA, Caixa 34, Chilcote to de Andrade, 21 June 1969.

7 IEB-MCA, Caixa 40, Johnson to de Andrade, 6 December 1976.

8 Another racial classification of that time, between the “pure” black and the mulatto.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Royal Irish Academy with a 2017 Charlemont Travel Grant and by the University College Dublin College of Social Science and Law Research Support Scheme with Research Grant R17353, “Inventing Critical Development.”

Notes on contributors

Federico Ferretti

FEDERICO FERRETTI is Associate Professor in the School of Geography at University College Dublin (UCD), Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. E-mail: [email protected]. His research and teaching interests lie in philosophy and history of geography and on international circulation of geographical knowledge through critical, decolonial, and anarchist approaches, with a special focus on Latin America and the Global South.