“Nothing about us, without us!”: Memories, identifications, and the search for historical reparation in the struggle to preserve the archaeological site of Quilombo do Saracura (City of São Paulo, Brazil)

memórias, identificações e busca por reparação histórica na luta pela preservação do sítio arqueológico do Quilombo do Saracura (São Paulo, SP)

Abstract

This article presents reflections on the struggle for the preservation of an archaeological site discovered in 2021, during the execution of subway works in the city of São Paulo (Brazil), in the Bixiga neighborhood. The association of the discovery with a maroon’s occupation that is a reference in the memory of the black populations of Bixiga, over generations, mobilized, since then, a very expressive number of civil society entities, notably entities of the black movement, and those linked to samba, to Carnival and to the daily life of the neighborhood. Taking as the axis of the discussion the manifest written by these entities in defense of the archaeological site and of actions that may preserve and disseminate it, the article analyzes, based on documents and bibliography relevant to the problem addressed, the articulations of this struggle with memory disputes, combats for plural historical narratives, tensions in the heritage field, exercise of rights and demands for historical repair, seeking to take into account contemporary debates related to these themes and highlight singularities observed in the case selected for study.