On October 15, the Abya Yala Pluriversity held the Cuia Anticolonial Maré: Understanding and Being Afro-Indigenous. In a neighborhood made up of 15 favelas and, according to the most recent Maré Census conducted by Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré in 2013, home to approximately 140,000 residents, where 62.1% of the population self-identifies as Black and 0.6% as Indigenous, we spent the day engaged in an intense exchange of knowledge and struggles. Our 15 participants were immersed in an experience that reinforces our commitment to challenging epistemic erasures within academia, centering the voices of Indigenous and Black peoples and, on this day, the epistemologies of the peripheries.
The Exchange Journey (9:30 AM–4:00 PM)
9:30–10:00 AM
Meeting at Casa Preta da Maré, breakfast, and introductions.
10:00–11:00 AM | Gira “Feeling the Maré”
We were immersed in the history of Maré, a moving account of forced displacement and the tireless struggle for basic rights. Knowledge that pulses and resists.
11:00 AM–12:00 PM | “Paths of Maré” Walking Tour
We visited strategic sites of memory and resistance, such as the Memorial to Mothers who lost their children to violence by the Brazilian state; the Fishermen’s Colony, guardian of a sea-based ancestral heritage; the Areninha Hebert Vianna, the only public cultural facility serving a neighborhood of 140,000 residents; and Comlurb in the Galinha Favela, a powerful symbol of the inefficiency of public services and the urgent need for change.
2:00–3:30 PM | Conversation Circle
The peak of our exchange took place during the conversation circle held at Uniperiferias, where we shared and reflected on knowledge produced from the peripheries, reaffirming the power of our collective knowledge production.
3:30–4:00 PM | Circle of Dreams
We closed the day with an inspiring moment in which we shared our individual dreams, aligned with the concept of bem viver (living well), and reflected on how the Abya Yala Pluriversity collective can serve as a driving force for transformation in bringing these dreams to life.
