Dr Archie Davies awarded prestigious British Academy funding
Dr Archie Davies, Lecturer in Geography and Fellow of the Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, has been awarded British Academy funding through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) International Interdisciplinary Research Projects Programme, to work with Dr Diego de Matos Gondim, of the Federal University of Fluminense, Brazil.
Quilombo is a practice of freedom, and a body of thought, that has been central to Black Brazilian politics and identity for over a hundred years, yet the idea and its history has been largely overlooked in English-speaking academic circles.
Titled ‘Worlding Quilombo’, Dr Davies' project, in collaboration with Diego de Matos Gondim, Federal University of Fluminense, Brazil, sheds light on the creative, political, and intellectual practices of nearly 2000 'remnant quilombos' in Brazil. These communities are the surviving descendants of communities formed by escaped enslaved people. Despite their historical and ecological significance, quilombos face existential threats including dispossession, violence, and economic marginalisation, with fewer than 10% having received the land titles they are guaranteed by the Brazilian constitution.
By working with contemporary quilombo intellectuals, leaders, and communities, ‘Worlding Quilombo’ explores quilombo as both an idea and a lived reality of freedom. Through the mediums of translation and documentary film, the project aims to bring quilombo to a global audience, understanding quilombo as a worldly and contemporary way of living, from which much can be learnt. By examining quilombo as a multifaceted phenomenon encompassing geographical places, socio-ecological formations, and intellectual traditions, the project promises to offer invaluable insights into the complex dynamics of race, racism, and freedom in Brazil and beyond.
Dr Davies said: "In spite of the rich and thriving world of analysing the history and practice of freedom in English, the philosophy, politics, and practice of quilombo remains drastically under-recognised outside Brazil. By collaborating with Dr Gondim, a wonderful scholar and film-maker with over a decade of ethnographic experience working with quilombo communities, this project will translate the thought and practice of contemporary quilombolas, and put their ideas into conversation with transatlantic discourses.”