Territorialisation of identities: Calon Romanies and titling of land in Brazil.

0558331 - EÚ 2023 eng A - Abstract
Fotta, Martin - Dolabela Pereira, H.
Territorialisation of identities: Calon Romanies and titling of land in Brazil.
[IX Convegno 2021: Next Generation: Prospettive antropologiche. Sapienza Università di Roma, 15.12.2021-18.12.2021]
Event organizer: Società Italiana di Antropologia Applicata
URL events: https://www.siaa-next-gen.it 
Institutional support: RVO:68378076
Keywords : Romanies/Gypsies * Brazil * nomadism * multiculturalism * ethnic recognition
OECD category: Antropology, ethnology

Within the Brazilian multicultural regime of recognition, Ciganos (Romanies) are recognised as belonging to ‘traditional peoples and communities’. The origins of this legal category and political identity have imbued it with certain characteristics, such as the assumed connection between land, culture and ethnicity, this is also reflected in the institutional framework for recognising rights and guaranteeing cultural recognition of these communities. It also reflects a so-called ‘territorial turn’ in Latin America whereby collective rights are grounded in territorial titling of lands (Bryan 2012). The paper discusses how the concept of ‘traditional peoples’ became applied to Ciganos and in turn raised questions of belonging, representation and the relationship to the land. For the state, activists and many scholars, nomadism has represented the major diacritical sign through which the Cigano cultural differentiation as a community is established. This leads to a series of contradictions. On the one hand, increasingly Calon inhabit houses and consequently, their failure to demonstrate an ‘affective, ideational and practical attachment’ (Povinelli 2002, p. 48) to their tradition is seen as a failure of authenticity. On the other hand, in the face of urban pressure (most Calon live on peripheries of towns and cities) being seen as ‘nomads’ undermines attempts to make collective claims to land. The paper will focus on the case of Calon of São Gabriel, in Minas Gerais (Lima&Dolabela 2015) to show how the traditional peoples’ political identity and processes afforded by the legal framework associated with it have been mobilised to secure collective rights to the area where their camp had stood for decades. It will also discuss the conceptual weight and history of the category of ‘traditional people’ under which this legalisation occurred: the need for a specific form of representation and a specific ‘territorialisation of identities’ (Malkki 1992). The Calon were offered collective-use rights and do not individually own their lots, which comes into the tension with their socio-political organisation.

Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0332315